Sara stepped into the rings in one moment and then into the same exact forest the next.

It was the same forest wasn't it.

All of the trees were the same. All of the rings were there. But instead of the bright fluffy, and airy nature of the forest it was now somewhat dark and foreboding.



Sara walked slowly through the forest, the bare branches spiked into the sky - no sign of life to be found anywhere. It was so dark she was barely able to see where she was going. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. Sara didn't know what laid in the dark forest, all she knew was that for the time being, she was alone.

And that was how she liked it. For the moment.

Setting her jaw, the girl pressed on. She was not sure what she was looking for... probably more rings?

Sara walked through the dimly lit forest, branches and leaves crunching under foot. The forest had an earthy, peaty smell like dead plants, moss and dirt. Every thing seemed still.

There was something about this forest that was different from any other kind that Sara had walked through before.

OOC: Sara Rolls Wits + Composure

12:22, Today: Sara failed (no successes) using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((7,2,6,2,2)).

Whatever it was, Sara couldn't place it amid the strangeness of this new and dark environment.

Then there was a sudden sound.

Rrrrriiiickkkkkkkkk....

A creaking sound. Followed by a series of other-worldly whispers as if something had been disturbed. She had been walking for nearly 10 minutes now, the landscape the same. The forest and its trees seeming to pass by with endless infinity.


Rrrrriiiickkkkkkkkk....

The creaking and the whispering again. A chorus of whispers that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. A creaking that more than a single creak. It was as if all of the branches of all of the trees were creaking.

Sara came to a halt. She wasn't afraid, or so she kept telling herself. This was just a dream, or something a lot like it... It may have been real but it wasn't all the way real. So, why fear it? "Who's out there?" she called out.

A plume of black, inky smoke billowed out in front of Sara's path. Spiraling tendrils of black mist pooled together and in the center the form of a figure began to take shape. A tall, skinny woman, but Sara could only see her outline. She stood at least seven feet tall.

"Who are you?" Sara demanded. "Are you that... tattooed lady?"

Sara spoke the words into the pooling darkness. The inky mist spread wide. There was ink floating around everywhere. Ink among the trees, ink all over Sara's clothing, ink her eyes.

The figure stepped out of the mist, revealing itself to be exactly what Sara had guessed: A Tattooed woman. Her skin was covered in red, green and black tattoos.



The look on her face was the same that someone might give a beetle: fascinated, disgusted, and ever so slightly disdainful.

Sara stepped back, then set her jaw and looked up defiantly at the figure. The ink was eerie and gave her goosebumps, but she did her best not to show it. "Do you talk?"

OOC: 05:53, Today: Evil Circus - The Tattooed Lady rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((2,8,6,7,4,1,8)).



Sara had ran hundreds of times across the playground at school and watched thousands of kids play games of chase, but she had never seen anything move quite like the Tattooed Lady before her, never seen anyone move so quickly.

The creature lashed out with one hand and seized the side of Sara's face, arm just bolting out like some kind of snake. And just like a snake bite, Sara felt a sudden painful lance of pain shoot up the side of her face where the creature had grabbed her and into her head.


OOC: Sara Gains 'Condition' immobilized - Unable to Move. Sara suffers 2 lethal damage.

Sara let out a stifled cry. She tried to lunge, but... couldn't. "What are you doing?!"

Sara had been lifted off the floor of the forest, feet dangling in the air. The woman's hand had been gripped onto her fact. But now, to Sara's attention, she could see that the woman's fingers were now part of her face. The tips had burrow in and there was no separation between the skin on Sara's face and the skin on the woman's tattooed hand.




"I'm just markin' you up, Darlin'." the woman's voice responded with an easy, mild tone, like the two were walking in the park.

"I'm just goin' to mark you up real good. I'm going to give you a tattoo. That way, I'll always be able to find you. Always be able to call you." She said, as if that was supposed to mean something to Sara somehow.

"Don't you know who I am?"

Sara gasped. She tried to move again, to wriggle free. She reminded herself that this was a dream, or like a dream. But it felt all too real. "The Tattoed Lady?"

"Why yes, Darlin'." the woman said, voice all silky and smooth.

"Now, just a little bit longer. I've got to get enough ink in you. Then we can get to work." She said the last part 'get to work' as if it was obvious that she was going to do something to Sara.

At the same time, Sara felt a pulsing sensation in her face. It was coming from the woman's finger tips that dug deep into her skin. There was a tingling, burning feeling, radiating out from Sara's face and down here neck.

Sara looked at the lady's hands in morbid fascination, eyes darting back and forth.

And the next moment, Sara was being dragged, the woman's arm suddenly unnaturally long, and monstrous. The Tattooed Lady pushed forward through the forest, her arm lagging behind, hand and skin attached to Sara's face.

Sara smelled the wet earth of the forest as her body was dragged behind the woman. Suddenly she was hauled up into the air and placed unceremoniously down onto a log.  The branches of the fallen log closed all around her, forming arm and leg restraints and a sort of chair.



"This is where we'll go to work. Now that the ink is in you, I need only to return with my needles and we'll make a proper and fine tattoo on your face and body." The Tattooed Lady promised. And with that she stalked off into the forest, perhaps looking for the needles.

Sara tried to move. Could she at least feel her limbs now? Not that it'd be much help...

"Pssst." Peter Rabbit's head popped out of a nearby tree. He was in the hollow of it, clearly trying to get Sara's attention.

Somehow even now she still felt peeved at Peter Rabbit. She ignored him. Or tried to - it was not like she could close her ears, or walk away...

The Rabbit gave her a snicker and a shrug of her shoulders that seemed to say 'suit yourself.' Then it ducked down into the bottom of the hollow and disappeared from sight.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:25, Fri 15 Mar 2019.

As Peter Rabbit disappeared from view, the world suddenly reverted back to the shadows of the forest. Sara was alone. Waiting for the heavy steps of the tall woman. Waiting for her to return with whatever her 'needles' were. Waiting for the Tattooed Lady to mark her.

It didn't take long.

There was a warm breeze that broke through the forest. It filled the air and Sara's nostrils with a chemical stench. The skin on Sara's face where the woman had grabbed her began to tingle in response to the monster-woman's approach.

Sara grimaced and winced, doing her damndest to look at her face, at her tingling skin. What was happening to it?

The Tattooed Lady came into view, her face smiling, the green, black and red designs on her skin catching the light of the moon. Sara's face was almost magnetically pulled towards her. The skin was now stretching outward as if some invisible hand was tugging at her cheek.

The woman stalked towards her and looked down like how a dentist might look at a patient.

"Can I let you out of this chair? Or will you try to run?" The Tattooed Lady asked Sara in a voice that was somehow both old and young at the same time. The voice sounded young, but it was an older style of talking. The kind of style that people who like watching black and white television shows would probably talk.

So she could run. Should she, though? Sara was too confused by the situation to come up with a plan. But... having the option was better than nothing. "Let me out."

The Tattooed Lady waved her hand and the restraints disappeared.

OOC: Sara loses the condition 'Immobilized' and can now move.


"I am the Tattooed Lady. I was once a woman marked by the Ancient ones long ago. But am no longer a woman. Now I find others to mark. You have wandered into a place that I hide in. And now I will mark you." The Tattooed Lady spoke to Sara in a silky smooth voice.

"I will mark you. And then you will be mine. You will serve me all of your days. You will carry my commands out to the living in your world. And when you sleep you will return to me."

"Ancient ones?" Sara asked, dully. She still had trouble understanding just how... serious this whole situation was. But that seemed important. "What ancient ones? Are they still around?" she frowned.

"Questions." The Tattooed Lady stated in surprise. "That is usual. Certainly this early. Maybe I underestimated you. Most children that have crossed my path during this time have either been too terrified to speak or two overwhelmed with tears to say anything else than mindless sobbing."


"I will mark you. And then you will be mine." She repeated. "Then you may ask your questions. Then you may receive some answers."

"But first I will give you a choice. Do want the mark on your face? Or on your hand?"

That's right, she was special. "My hand," she decided, somewhat more firmly.

"Very well." The Tattooed Lady stated. "Now I will write the letters of the old tongue into your hand." And with that, she pricked Sara. There was a humming sound as the needled went in and out of Sara's skin, lancing pain suddenly shooting up. The woman moved fast. Strange letters and odd symbols carved, and leaving blood spattering onto the forest floor. The ink smelled of rot. It wasn't so much that the woman was injecting ink. It was like she was stabbing Sara and the ink already in her was rising to the surface to fill the wound with acid.

OOC: Sara takes 1 lethal damage

OOC: Sara rolls Resolve + Composure with the following results:

0 Successes: Sara screams. A deep bellow of pain

1 Success: Sara starts to cry, a deep sobbing from the pain

2 Successes: Sara lets out a shriek, but manages to hold back the obvious sobbing, tears flowing down her face in silence

3+ Successes: Sara keeps in all in.

Sara wasn't about to go to pieces in front of this lady. She was way stronger than that, no matter what anyone might have thought. And this was her chance to prove just how badass she really was. Sara smiled through the pain.

Her fear and shock had receded enough by then, and she had just about convinced herself that this was what she wanted, exchanging one monster friend for another to get an opportunity to get up to more mischief than ever before. This was way cooler than some lame bubblegum tea party with a bunch of stuffed animals.

OOC: 22:01, Today: Sara rolled 4 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((10(+8),1,9,10(+5))).

Wow.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Thu 21 Mar 2019.

Sara felt hot needle move in and out of her flesh. The pain was unbearable. It seared through her skin like a sewing machine gone wild. Blood shot up and speckled her face.

But Sara kept it all in.

The Tattooed Lady looked up at Sara and met her eyes with one raised eyebrow. The woman's look seemed to be one of surprise. Surprise that Sara wasn't screaming. Surprise that Sara wasn't weeping. Surprise that Sara didn't try to get up and run far, far away.

But there was no where to go.

So while Sara's insides wretched with pain, she sat there and took it. She looked down and saw strange symbols and curved letters that she didn't recognized. They were being painted into the flesh of the back of her hand.

After mentally preparing herself for a few moments to keep herself from screaming once she opened her mouth, Sara whispered: "What does that spell?"

"These are the letters of the Old Time, when your world and our world were one. They are the words in the time before, when Men walked with Devils." The Tattoed Lady explained.

She had stopped needling now. She lifted Sara's hand up so Sara herself could see:

Sara's entire left hand was blue. It was blue with the ink, tattoo ink ti be precise. Arcane letters, crescent moons, stars and symbols. There were jagged lines that marked Sara's fingers and blue swirls on the palm of her hand. Every inch of Sara's hand was marked.

Sara examined one side of her hand, then the other. "So... What does this do, exactly? Can you reach me in... my world?"

"You will receive a sign when I am ready. It will be a bright light. You must follow it." The Tattooed Lady commanded.

"You will find out exactly what these symbols are when you wake. Tomorrow, you will wake up. And when you do, before the day is over you must take a knife and stab your self through the palm of your hand. Not a little jab or poke. You must push the knife entirely through your hand."

"Then when you have and I have seen it done, I will send you the sign. Then you will return to me."

This message was last updated by the player at 10:34, Mon 25 Mar 2019.

That did give Sara some momentary pause, but then she nodded: "Sure."

"Good." The Tattooed Lady replied. "I have given you a command, and you have accepted it. This is a sign of good manners. And will be repaid in kind."

"I have always been fond of good manners."

"After you have completed your task, when you see the light follow it. That is all."

And she gave Sara a simple not of her head as if the conversation was over.

"Uh... right." No one ever complimented her on her manners before, Sara was pretty sure. "So, where do I go now?"

"Did you understand me?" The Tattooed Lady's voice had suddenly grown harsh. The forest itself growing colder almost instantly after she spoke. "I have given you a command."

It appeared, that for whatever reason, the woman was unsatisfied with Sara's answer. Perhaps she didn't hear. Or perhaps its was the delay in Sara's response. Whatever it was, it appeared the monster-woman was intent on getting Sara to clarify her response, to affirm her role in some kind of Master and student relationship.

Sara frowned. "After I wake up, I'll stab my hand. Then, I'll follow a bright light." She was a little confused by the precise intended sequence, but that was what made the most sense.

The Tattooed Lady nodded.

"Very good."

OOC: Sara Joins Thread

Sara: The Hand