(OOC - Congratulations to Fixer for having achieved Archmagus status 
)
Again after a pause the skeletal figure poles a boat out of the mist on the river, and stops at the bank alongside the magi . The mages are able to board the boat and are silently poled across the river , there they hand over their coins to the silent ferryman and he vanishes back into the mist on the river.
Wirth is still able to sense the direction the magi need to take and soon the come to the rock face from which they emerged their on the other side of the tunnel the giant hound cerebus awaits still bound by the chains of blue fire which prevent it from reaching the magi as they pass the giant hound which glares at them menacingly as they cautiously edge around the giant hound.
Beyond that they can see a shimerring circle at the end of the caves through which they can see the villa where Clara's body was resting.
I don't like this. I can't shake the feeling that something's gonna go wrong.
Wirth moves cautiously, scanning his surroundings. He can't fail, he don't want to, but life is a bitch, so he expect to, and lose all hope and light.
As the mages step through the shimmering portal into the villa they feel the return to the real world , and of course all of their spells and Parma Magica's going down. Roberto regains his conciousness , and Clara vanishes from Wirth's arms as they step through the portal . Then he realises that he can still sense Clara and can sense her suprise at awakening in a strange place but cannot tell where that place is.
Also waiting for them is the shrouded and veilled figure of Marrissa who speaks in the voice of a middle aged woman " Welcome back , you have succeeded and the link has been formed we must complete the ritual quickly if the bond between you and Clara is to be made permenant"
[color=red]Wh... What just happened? Everyone was talking to me all at once, then I blacked out. Are we home yet?
First things first.
Overjoyed at his wife's survival, wirth rushes, and takes a puzzled Clara into his arms (Her last memory must have been the serpent's bite), eyes closed, savoring her body warmth in his arms.
Still weak, understanding only that her husband clearly feared to lose her, Clara can do nothing but embrace him back.
Then, slowly, realisation sinks in, and intellect takes precedence. They must go on, or this will have been for nothing. Wirth separates from clara, look at her in the eyes, seeking strength and courage, and finding them. Hand in hand, they turn to Marrissa.
Wirth nods
We are ready.
Wirth
Yes, we are. Are you feeling better?
Iolar
It seems that you where overcome by the magic of that place when something went wrong with your spell, fortunatly Wirth was able to use a spell to find the way out. I am glad to see the problem has worn off
Marrissa
Still in the voice of a middle aged woman
Follow me this way
Marrissa leads Wirth and Clara to a central courtyard within the villa , overhead the sky is visble as the sun approaches noon
There she tells them of their part in the ritual , know speaking in the voice of an ancient crone
" The two of you stand together at the centre of the courtyard , next to the brazier when I tell you to Wirth you cut your right hand with the Knife and sprinkle a small amount of the blood over the leaves and branches you brought back, then place them in the Brazier . They will burn to ash when that is done I will tell you to do the next part then Clara will cut her left hand with the knife , both of you will mingle a small amount of your blood with the ash, then clasp the two injured hands together . In the meantime my acolytes will at the the cardinal points supplicate the appropriate spirits and I will when the ash is ready mark symbols upon your foreheads with the ash and blood paste then anoint you with the oil . I will then complete the magical part of the ritual at precisely noon . While the ritual is going on fix your thoughts on each other and of the events which link you together this will help to focus the magic on your bond. Is that clear?
Hat's off to Andrew for now achieving Archmagus status! I am not alone anymore. There are now four of us; myself, Erik Tyrell, Fixer, and now Andrew 
Others are not far behind 
Wirth, visibly tense ad anxious
As much as possible
Clara, grasping her husband's hand, is visibly more sereine. Whatever happens, happens, but she trusts.
We are
Time seems to stretch out as the ritual commences , to Wirth and Clara it feels as though they are frozen in a moment of time. Four white robed figures stand at the 4 cardinal points of the Compass chanting in a language neither of them speak although it sounds similar to Greek, Marrissa stands before them making shorter chants in the same language in her usual disturbing selection of voices.
When Wirth places the blood covered leaves and branches in the Brazier they burn with a bright Green flame and rapidly reduce themselves to a fine ash, as Clara cuts her hand Wirth feels the same pain in his hand , then as they clasp hands and their blood mingles both of them are assailed by strange sensations and emotions they can identify as those of their partner and feel themselves mingling together. Their minds are full of memories of their initial meetings , marriage and love it seems that they relive most of their lives together in what they know must only be a few minutes at most.
While this is going on Marissa steps forward and marks arcane symbols upon both of their foreheads with the ash and mingled blood paste before anointing them with oil.
Stepping back she begins chanting in the voice of a truly ancient lady clearly finishing the ritual as she does the shadows deepen and the light grows stronger, spectral music seems to come from the air and standing alongside Marrissa are several shadowy figures, green flame begins to dance around Marrissa and the shadowy figures as starts to reach out towards Wirth and Clara as above the sun seems to reach its zenith. Clearly this is the climatic moment of the ceremony and the last moment of choice.
Watching Roberto can see nothing more than the others, Iolar can see many powerful spirits swirling around the ceremony .
Unless immobility is required (and IIRC, only the joining of hands was), confronted by the memories of this miracle, wirth can't help but kiss his wife.
As Wirth and Clara embrace the Green fire flows around and over them , without burning anything. As the flame flows around them the rest of the courtyard seem to go dark as the light of the sun seems to vanish , then the green flame seems to shrink centering on the joined hands of the couple until finally it completely shrinks away.
As the Fire vanishes the light of the noon sun returns at full force , and Wirth and Clara still locked into their embrace gently slump to the floor unconcious. At the same time and less noticed by the watching magi the four acolytes also slump , two of them unconcious and the remaining two clearly exhausted. Marrissa is also reeling from the release of the magic.
(I need to roll a dice for each of Marissa, Clara and Wirth but the dice roller is blocked from work and or some reason I do not have a polyhedral random number generating device with me which is most unnusual)
Marissa, Wirth and Clara all avoided botching
Clearly Exhausted and speaking in the voice of a teenage girl "The ritual is complete, they should recover by tommorrow.
She turns and heads into the building , the two concious acolytes are joined by 2 other acolytes and move the unconcious acolytes into the villa
OCC I just realised which character from the Black Company I was basing Marissa off
Knowing that, is this supposed to reassure me?
No , Not at all 
Knowing the character in question, I figured as much T-T
Iolar and Roberto manage to move the unconcious couple back to a more comfortable room to recover, the cuts to their hands have stopped bleeding although they do seem to have left a scar.
Wirth and Clara sleep through the night and wake in the morning , they can still feel a link to each other bit otherwise feel perfectly normal.
Wirth and Clara have both gained a warping point, they are also now linked and count as an arcane connection to each other, Clara gains Wirth's form resistance vs magic and both of them now share Wirth's aging rolls. If either is in serious pain or emotional distress the other will feel it although much less severely. It is probably possible to build other enchantments into the bond , also Clara now counts as being aligned to the magic realm for things like gaining warping from aura's (Pretty much as a standard Familar bond although no Cords)
Iolar and Roberto have also been exposed to the magical realm and the vis which bonded to them has not been burnt off in a ritual and may be able to gain virtues or flaws as per the Realms of Magic , if people think that is appropriate.
This plot is pretty much over , there is any talking people want to do and an uneventful journey back to Novus Mane
Um, that just whent right over my head 
I am all for that!
It all depends on how many vis-xp we each recieved though...
0 pawns - Change a Minor/Major Virtue/Flaw into another Minor/Major Virtue/Flaw of the same value: Though I cant think of anything I would want to trade. I like the Virtues & Flaws that I currently have
5 pawns - Gain a new Minor Virtue and a Minor Flaw: I like this, though I have no idea what the new V&F would be. It should relate to this adventure in some way.
10 pawns - Gain a new Minor Virtue: Even cooler! Yet again, I have no idea what this Virtue should be though. Maybe the spell I botched? Gain Puissant Intellego maybe?
Optionally, we could just keep the vis and use it in the normal fashion. I was considering enchanting my sword