Of course not all tests, Alliances, and Enmities are confronted in bars. In many stories, these are simply encounters on the road. The hero comes at last to the edge of a dangerous place, sometimes deep underground, where the object of the quest is hidden. Often it's the headquarters of the hero's greatest enemy, the most dangerous spot in the Special World, the Inmost Cave. When the hero enters that fearful place he will cross the second major threshold.
Heroes often pause at the gate to prepare,plan, and outwit the villain's guards.
This the phase of the Approach. Approach covers all the preparations for entering the Inmost Cave and confronting death or supreme danger. Here the fortunes of the hero hit bottom in a direct confrontation with his greatest fear. This is a critical moment in any story, an Ordeal in which the hero must die or appear to die so that she can be born again. It's a major source of the magic of the heroic myth.