Honestly I feel "you meet in a tavern" is cliche and uninteresting, but if you must do it give them something to mechanically interact with the NPCs through - a drinking game, some kind of gambling, someone who gets aggressive and has to be face-skilled down from a fight, that sort of thing. First session roleplay is always awkward and needs something to focus around, which taverns aren't really for.
If they're immediately leaving for another city there's not much point in giving them memorable NPCs to interact with though, because they won't be interacting with them again. Why not start them off already travelling to Ptolus as a group? You can have them travelling with/pick up along the way a memorable NPC from Ptolus, so they arrive with someone already familiar with the city and can point them in the right direction, while setting up a familiar face for the party later when they interact with them again. Throw in fending off a bandit attack and a skill challenge - maybe a wheel breaks on the cart they're in, or they have to overcome a blockage in the road - and they should arrive at the city just in time for the end of the session, leaving them hanging on a description of the city waiting for next week.