Elan really hopes that means he should be expecting something more like earlier with Glumbert than like Azure City.

"Okay. I think I'm ready. Where are the people I should play for? Or are there a bunch in different places?"

"There are teams of Guardians at the south and east gates, but the biggest group is gathering at the west gate. That's where all the other adventurers are going, so I guess it must be where they think the most undead will attack! Just follow the main road straight back the way you came. Or I can come with you and show you the way, if you want!" 

"I can probably find it if you're busy… Is there a north gate too?"

Ash scratches his head. "I guess there is? But it's just the gate to the docks, so nobody really calls it that. Anyway, I really don't mind showing you the way to the gate! I don't exactly have anything better to do—I'm pretty sure Guardian Jenni just gave me this job to keep me out of the way." 

"Well, hopefully there aren't any underwater zombies attacking!"

Elan's gotten very familiar with the trouble posed by aquatic enemies.

"My friends would do that kinda stuff with me, too. Make stuff up to keep me out of the way."

"But you're a grown-up adventurer, not a kid like me! Why would they do that?" Ash protests as they start heading back towards the gate. He seems to have decided to accompany Elan. 

"Well, I am the youngest one in the party, even if you ignore the ones who grow up slower than humans. But that's only a difference of like three years, so I think it's probably more that I get into trouble a lot. Like, one time I blew up a castle, which was pretty awesome at the time, except then we all got arrested because of it. But then it turned out that the arrest was kinda fake in the first place, because the guy who sent his paladin to arrest us actually wanted us to work for him but didn't have any other way to ask us because of… I think a bunch of secret stuff and rules? I dunno, I wasn't there when he explained it to Roy and then Roy was still mad at him when he explained it to the rest of us. Because the whole getting arrested thing really sucked."

Pause.

"I forgot what we were talking about before this."

Ash is utterly fascinated. "Whoa! You've had such exciting adventures! ...I also forgot what we were talking about." 

Elan laughs.

"That's probably okay! Let's see…"

A lot of his stories from the past year are more scary-for-real or sad than exciting…

"A few months ago, my evil twin brother switched places with me so that I would be stuck in jail while he messed with my friends. I got his half-orc… uh, I think they're called ogres here… buddy who was in jail with me to break the bars. And then while I was trying to figure out how to catch up to my friends, I met a really cool famous pirate who gave me a ride to where my friends were staying on his airship and taught me a bunch of cool swordfighting tricks!"

"Ohmygosh your life is so cool!!!" Ash exclaims, voice breaking in excitement. He's not really looking where he's going anymore, but the gate is in view. The armoured guards seem to be gathering there along with a small group of recognisably adventurer-looking types. 

Elan beams.

"Thanks! I'm not even ten years older than you, so I bet that by the time you're my age your life will be just as cool, or even cooler!"

Elan tries to figure out what the other adventurer-types seem to be feeling about the upcoming attack, and also how much cool stuff they have on them. That first thing is pretty hard, though, so he'll probably have to ask when they get in talking range.

The adventurers are mostly either fighters in plate armour, magic-users in robes, or dagger-wielding rogue types in leather. They're a colourful bunch, most of the armoured types having apparently painted their armour and the mages wearing different coloured robes, although none of them have coordinated their accessories or weapons with their overall colour scheme. Some of them look excited to be here, some are playing it cooler, but nobody seems terrified.

It's hard to tell how cool their stuff is, given the unfamiliar magic system. A lot of it seems weirder than he's used to: a rogue has a pair of daggers made entirely of glowing crystal, a fighter has a green-bladed sword with thorns sticking out of it and roses growing from the hilt...just about everyone has a weird probably-magic weapon, and a solid half of them have belts that look far too unfashionable not to be magic. (He'll have to look closer to see if any are wearing rings.) The rest of their gear looks mostly normal, except that capes seem to be in fashion.

Elan tentatively concludes that the adventurers are expecting a challenge, but not a deadly one. He thinks their unfamiliar stuff looks pretty cool but can't draw any specific conclusions on what level they seem to be. The guys at the gate seemed to think he looked capable, though, so maybe Elan should also expect a nondeadly challenge.

"I'd ask if you wanna join in, but if something did happen to you then the Guardians might get mad at me. So… you should probably do whatever you were gonna do anyway."