This picture is a direct follow to this one : In the Fortress (https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/in-the-fortress/2844398/?p) "I think I can do it." responded Minalva to Omdeo's question. Omdeo seemed to concentrated ; then : "AMON!" he yelled with a powerful voice, making jumping of surprise the four others. Nothing happened for a second, then Amon entered the room. He passed his green eyes on the group gathered with Omdeo, and gave them a quick bow to salute them. Amon was human. He was tall. Not as much as Omdeo, but at least as much as Marina, which is already a decent size. He was tall but thin. Although it was visible he had a strong body. His brown hair was short but long enougth to hide half of his ears. His beard was short too but thick. A sword on his right side indicated he was left handed. "Yes Omdeo ? asked Amon. - Go to the "maps chamber" and ask to Master Nicolas to send me here the map of the province of Emloth. I also want you to go ask to Eon to come here, I have important things to discuss with him after I'll finish this meeting. - I'll do it right away. - Thank you my lad." Amon began to leave the room when Omdeo added, " Oh, and send us a servant with beverages. My friends had a long trip and they must be thirsty. And ask for a quarter to be prepare for them. Amon responded with a nod, and leaved. Few minutes later, almost at the same time, two servants brought the beverages and the map. Our heroes were impressed by how fast both arrived, and they welcomed the beverages with undisguised pleasure. Omdeo let them drink without pressing them. Then he placed the map in front of Minalva and invited her to take a look. "Does the scale is correct ? she asked. - As correct as it can be. Even if the wooded area is not very known anymore." responded Omdeo. The two third of Emloth province was covered by a deep forest that local people avoided. Minalva concentrating, remade their travel backward in her head. From the little barony of Urkmarch, where they left the Egg to the stewardship, to the woods. And, using the landmarks, her knowledge of wooded areas and by calculating the average speed they had travel, she finally pointed a finger on the map. "There!" she said. I'm certain the cave is there, in this restricted area. - Wonderful ! said the magician. Now if you want to excuse me, I'll need to concentrate for a moment." He sat, put his elbows on the table, joined his hands and put his chin on them. Then he closed his eyes. They all felt a change in the atmosphere of the room. They stopped moving for several minutes and none of them was daring making a noise. But finally, curiosity took the advantage of Minalva, a flaw or a quality of her race, and whispering to Delphine, she asked her what he was doing. "I think he is scanning the area you showed with his mind. She whispered back. - It's exactly what I was doing." Explained without a warning the master of the guild, giving them once more a jump scare. "Sorry to scared you. He laughed. YYou done well, by indicating that place, young Minalva. I had not to search long before I found the entrance of the cave. It's malefic energy was markable right away. " And you said true, Delphine, when you said the cave was full of goblins, the numbers is impressive. - Yes, and it's the primitive kind, they were all naked !" She said with some repulsion in her voice. Realising what she just said, she looked at Minalva who was watching her and added, " No offense intended, Mina". The young elf responded with a smile and a nod, implying that no harm was done. "There is goblins, but there is something more. Resumed Omdeo with a more serious tone. A dark force. Powerful enough, to hide its form from me. But there is something it haven't been capable to hide from me. Its energy. I recognised the same one that from the curse you had on you. The one who sended these creatures to you is in this cave. Another thing, I felt the energy of Gornhoth too. Does the Egg had been taken back from the stewardship ? Or is it just some residual energy ? I unfortunately cannot tell. What is certain though, it's that what is below the surface is too dangerous to be ignored. Says he categorical. I'll send an expedition to get rid of it." Our four heroes shared a look, and without a word they took a decision. "Omdeo, we want to go there. said Delphine. It started with us and it will end with us!" Omdeo did not respond right away, instead of that he gave a profound stare to each of them. It was hard to hold his gaze. His eyes gave the impression to look directly into their mind, or even beyond. When he finished, he took a deep breath and said, " Very well, I'll respect your choice. But how are your friends now, you'll all go to a certain death. So to give you a chance to survive, I'll give them a gift that is usually reserved to members of the Guild of Adventurers. I will awake them. Go place there." He said to the three companions of Delphine. Minalva, Romatzo and Marina placed themselve back to the wall with the false windows. Omdeo took place in front of Minalva, "Close your eyes" he said to her. His presence was more impressive than ever and she obeyed without question. He placed a hand on her forehead and the other on her heart. He closed his eyes. For Marina and Romatzo who was observing the scene with apprehension, nothing seemed to happened, no light, no sound. But for Minalva things were different. Behind her eyes shut, she felt a warm and phenomenal energy spring from her forehead and her chest. The sensation was inexpressible. After few seconds, the energy spread to all her body and her spirit, and the sensation of both disappeared in what seemed to be an infinite force, for what gave the impression of an eternity. Then the feeling of her mind and her body came back. The force, if still huge for the moment, was getting smaller and smaller, until it disappeared. In fact no, it was still there, she could feel it. Very little, almost imperceptible, diffusing its warm energy. She heard Omdeo's voice tell her to open her eyes. "Wha... What happened ?" she asked amazed. - I'll explain to you all later, he said with a gentle smile, but before, it's your companions' turn." Omdeo needed to crouch to realise the awakening on Romatzo. Romatzo lived the same experience as Minalva, and the same thing happened to Marina too. The three had to sit, moved by the experience. "What have you done ? questioned Minalva once again. - It's pretty simple. Your potential have been unlock. And it's all up to you to make it grow beyond your imagination. - Why didn't you do the same to Delphine ? asked now Romatzo. - Delphine is an accomplished magician, her potential had already been awaken. But she still have a lot to learn." He gave her a smile. "Normally, the initiate stay to the Guild for a certain time, to learn how to use their new abilities. But the situation is serious and must be deal quickly. So you'll leave in two days after this one. - Two days? But Omdeo, I am still far to have recover all my magical powers ! claimed Delphine. - Two days, it's the best I can give you to rest and to prepare. And did you forget where you are ? We have some knowledge here that will give them back to you in no time. And if you haven't recovered all your powers, it's the same to your enemy. Summoning a Demon Lord demand a lot of energy, so it's the best moment to attack! And if this being retrieved the Egg, we can't let it have a chance to release Gornhoth. Too many will die." A moment of silence settled. All were lost in their mind. When Omdeo started to speak again. " It's late, my young friends. There is things I have to clear up and to do to prepare your combat. I'm sure you are really tired and need a good rest, so I propose you to go to your quarter. You'll find everything you'll need there." They agreed with this idea, the fatigue started the hit them really hard. They left the room followed by Omdeo. Outside they met Eon who waited for the meeting to be over. Eon was a high elf. He was beautiful like all the one of his race. He had long blond hair and strong blue eyes. He was the one in charge of the stewardships. Our heroes understood why he had been called. Omdeo called a servant, and ask him to lead them to their quarter. And he told them he'll pass see them, in the evening, if he had time. The four followed the servant to their room where they'll found a well deserve rest. ________________________________________________ Thank you for watching and reading. It was kind of exhausting to write all this texte for the two last pictures. Not because of the writing itself, but because of all the explanations I had to give (and found). And because it take time between pictures, it's not easy to stay coherent (I don't write my story in advance). I have already ideas of what I'll say in the next picture. I think it will be shorter. I know that the map seen in the picture don't look like a real map, but I have no talent or imagination for creating map from scratch. So I used a map editor that I found few days ago. It's called Inkarnate and if you are in the same case than me (no talent or imagination, remember ?), it's really easy to use. If interest, here is a youtube link to show what you can do with it, and how it works : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVDmrujnSag And the link of Inkarnate itself : https://inkarnate.com/ You maybe wondering why I gave so much detail about Amon, even if we barely see him. Well, it's because I amused myself to give him my own description. :D You'll see Amon in a future picture, but I don't know yet if he'll really look like me (If I can reproduce myself) or if I just do something original with the description I gave. I'm still not sure how the "awakening" will manifest on our characters. At first it will be something like, stronger, faster, smarter, the basic things that happend when you level up. Because it's basically what happened here. :) But for further stories, I don't know (well I have some ideas for Minalva). If you don't understand why Minalva should have felt offended by Delphine saying the goblins are primitive because naked, please refer to that picture : Just relaxing and being happy (https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/just-relaxing-and-being-happy/2813182/?p&ca)