{-Myr-}
For a place that seemed so empty around them, Eslasera City was surprisingly lively—especially as they got closer to the center of it. She kept hoping to find Bezyu somewhere among the crowds, but she never did. She didn’t want to lose track of the others, which was, honestly, the only thing keeping her from wandering around and asking people herself. Bezyu was the last of the companions they had to meet with; for some reason, somehow, Myr knew their reunion with her would be important. Hopefully it was just the good kind of important.
“Ah, you there! The party of five right in front of me!” Perhaps it was a good thing that the woman pushed her way through the crowds to them, because none of them would have paid her any mind otherwise.
“You need us for something?” Zetai asked, once she realized that the woman was here for them.
“Yes. First, let’s get introductions out of the way. I’m Natharie, the host of a local PvP tag-teaming event.” She gestured broadly behind her, even though they could only see glimpses of what it was through the crowd. “I normally wouldn’t go out of my way to get someone to join, but I’m in a bit of a tricky situation. Another party had reserved a spot, but they cut out at the last minute. It starts in a couple of minutes and I promised a certain number of parties will be participating this time around.”
“I’m not sure,” Reynneak admitted quietly. “Anything PvP runs the risk of drawing attention to ourselves. If at least a part of this is because of the picture event, there’s a chance that this could make things worse.”
Tinath shrugged. “It probably would’ve happened eventually, no matter what we did.”
Llewel frowned. “I’d really rather not risk it, though. Being careless isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
Myr didn’t say anything; she understood their points, but something else came to her when she thought about it. This could be their chance to show their skills off—a way that they could prove just how good of a team they were. She even found herself comforted in the idea that they’d all do it together.
“Your individual names won’t be recorded, if that’s not what you’re worried about,” Natharie remarked. “I don’t try to skirt around the rules. If you place anywhere—which you might not, since you’re not very prepared—it’ll only be your party name and only showed for the rest of today. I usually get a lot of participants, so anything longer than that tends to get crowded and boring. Does hearing that information make you any more willing to help me out?”
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Zetai glanced at all of them and must not have been completely satisfied with their relatively neutral expressions. She turned back to Natharie and asked, “Is it going to take long?”
“The whole thing shouldn’t take longer than twenty minutes or so. It’s pretty quick—the longest part is all of the set-up and that’s nearly done by now.” She motioned behind her again. “So, does that satisfy you? I’d like to give you a quick look at everything before you can start getting ready. It keeps things fair, since the others have been able to see what they’re facing, too.”
With another collective indifference from all of them, they went to follow her. She guided them to where she came from and practically ignored all the other players who tried to talk to her when she passed them. The most she gave was a mumble about “these are the substitutes” and kept on moving. Among the several parties that they passed, Myr could tell at least one of them recognized them—they all seemed surprised when they passed, whispering something to each other.
Natharie gestured to the course that was now in front of them. “There’s five sections—which means all of you get a spot, no need to fight over drawing straws or whatever. All you’ve got to do is determine who’s going where. Since you’re new to this, I don’t expect you to do well, so there’s no pressure there. Any questions?”
“Yeah, just one last thing. What are we getting out of this?” Zetai seemed to pretend to think of some kind of plan as she looked at the course—it was Reynneak who clearly seemed to be getting an idea.
“Everyone earns the participation rewards of a bit of EXP for all party members and some coins,” Natharie answered. “The rest depends on how well you rank. Top three have their rewards multiplied by two for third place, three for second, and four for first. But it takes most parties a lot of practice in order to get that high, so I can’t imagine you’d be able to determine how much that is.”
“I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised!” Myr remarked. She felt confident about this and their teamwork. This was an opportunity to show everyone else that, too.
“It’s no wonder no one else has offered to come when you’re pretty much telling them they’re not going to be able to do it,” Tinath mumbled.
Natharie shrugged and gestured for them to follow her again. “It helps with the annoying ones, somewhat. Less people ruin the good nature of the show by being a bad sport about it.” Still, she ignored everyone else as she walked past them.
Eventually she stopped and gestured to an empty table near where all the other players were. “This is where you’ll be until everything’s ready. Don’t try going too far, leaving at this point means forfeit. I expect you all to be ready by the time you need to take your places. The timer’s up there, make sure to keep an eye on it.” Then she waved and walked away, seeming to finally give attention to the players who had wanted her earlier.
“Let’s give them something to remember,” Zetai remarked with a smirk. “We might be unprepared, but we’re twice as good as all these guys.” She glanced at Reynneak. “You’ve figured something out, right?”
He nodded. “I think I have a pretty good idea of who’s going to need to be where. I couldn’t tell exactly what was going to be in each section, but I have a couple of guesses and plans to go with them.”
“I knew I could count on you! Let’s hear it.”