They took the carraige back to Seaside and Sarah lead them to a series of stalls and shop buildings near the center. "In case you don't know," she said, "this is the market. The southeast quarter sales general goods, any thing from food to tents to lanterns and other supplies. The Southwest is weapons and armor merchants, though other forms of goods spill over into there from the General goods section, as the smiths there don't just deal with weapons and armor. Above it, the northeast quarter contains various bits of machinery, and various technological devices. Last week I even saw a two wheeled vehicle called a "bicycle" there. It has some bleed over from the the northeastern magical vendors and the smithing area. If you need anything specific, just tell me and I'll tell you where to find it." "Well, Southeast first to get food, then Southwest would be my vote," Linus said, now staring at Sarah's beautiful eyes. "Certainly," Sarah said, "If you'll follow me." She lead the two to the general goods quarter, to the first food vendor. On the table in front of the man were many small sacks of preserved meats and fruits. Bags of nuts and jars of preserves sat to the left of him, and many direrent bottled drinks, mostly alcoholic, sat to his right. "Can I help you, sirs and madaam?" the man asked them. "What is the price of an average packet of smoked beef, smoked fish, and smoked pork, as well as a small pack of dried fruits? Oh, and bread, pickles, butter, oil and honey?" Linus said, prepared to bargain. "Beef and Pork are ten pound per pound, fish only five, as this is Seaside, and fish are cheap. Fruits depend on which fruit. Right now apples are in season, so they are three per, but the others are a bit more." He reaches under the table and pulls out a list. "Can you read English?" he asks. "Yes, I can," Linus said, "A traveller has to be multilinguistic. Anyway, five pounds of fish, five pounds of dried apples, and one jar of applesauce. Also, a few wineskins would be nice; purified water is hard to come by for a traveller." "We have wells, which is good, clean water. As long as it remains sealed, it won't stagnate, though I can sell you boiled water if you wish." He gathered up the rest of the goods and put them on the counter. "One hundred ten pounds." he said. "Done," Linus affirmed, handing over the money, before saying to Sarah and James: "All right, where do you two want to go next?" "I think we should try and find a bookstore to learn some new tricks, and afterwards I'm heading to the magic quarter to learn some new enchantments. Sound good to you Linus?" "It does; I also have to train my own skills; I spent at least a decade allowing them to go rusty in order to earn scholastic credentials," Linus also thought: [i]My Thunderbolt has grown weaker than it used to be, and that spar with James has shown me that I've become less agile.[/i] "Sarah? Which way would a bookstore be?" James asked with inquisition. After buying some trail mix for herself, she responded. "North," she said, "follow me." She walked north up a line between the booths, stopping briefly to buy a backpack. A few minutes later she led you into a building beside the magic quarter. "This bookstore speciallizes is skill books, though there are a few lower-ranking spell books. No scrolls, though. If you need some, I'll show you my favorite place for those." "Thanks Sarah, You're a huge help." James and Linus walked through the oak doorway and proceeded into the bookstore. It wasn't a huge building, but it had several tall bookshelves adorned with dusty tomes and numerous volumes; James was confident he would find what he needed. He approached the woman behind the counter near the door, "Excuse me miss, do you have any books on fencemanship? Particularly in the area of dual wielding? "As for me," asked Linus, "I would like a book on how to dodge better." "Oh, yes," the woman behind the counter said. "We have books on both. Tell me," she said, looking at Linus, "were you looking for magical enhancements for your dodging, or just a book to help you understand the art of dodging a bit more?" She walked to a shelf and pulled a slightly worn book out of it, handing it to James. "It takes a nimble person to learn to duel wield weapons in battle properly." James casually flipped through the pages of the book, looking at the training instructions. "Perfect, I'll take it. How much?" "Five hundred pounds." she said. "Hmm... I don't know. Just for a book? How about I give you a night with my friend here and 350?" James asked with a smirk. "And which friend would that be?" She asked with a playful glance at Sarah and Linus. After a second, she looked back at James. "Either way, I'm not so sure. I'm more into elves." Linus chuckled at that, and spoke to the bookstore lady: "You know, I half-expected you to throw us out of the store after making that offer. Anyway, yeah, I get that you would want Elves; they're pretty, have pointed ears, and don't grow body hair beyond what is physically appealing. However, looks aren't everything, if you catch my drift, and I've had practice in...certain arts longer than the kid," he ribbed James midly, "has been alive." (Linus Seduction: 2-3-2=7) "Really? Well maybe later, but for now..." She smiled at James. "Sorry honey, but it's too soon. Here's your five hundred pounds." James told her, brushing her off and taking the book. She took the money and looked a bit disappointed. "Well, if you ever want to take me up on that offer, you know where I am." "Yeah, you're uh... kinda hard to forget. Thanks for the book lady." James turned around to leave the store, patting Linus on the back as he left. "All yours." He muttered. The store worker nodded to him as he left. "So, about that dodging book..." "A book on mundane dodging, if you please," Linus said. She reaches to the top of shelf beside where the the dual weilding book was and grabs an almost new book on dodging. "This should teach you many new forms of dodges." she says. "Five hundred." "Hmm..." Linus said, "is there a cheaper copy somewhere?" (Linus: Bargain: Roll 10 INT to succeed 6-2-5=13 Success) "Actually," she said, taking the book from you and putting it back on the shelf. She reached a few inches from there and pulled down a different, more worn, but still intact one. "This one is an earlier edition, but the newer version isn't that much better. 350." "Thank you," Linus paid the required money, before going out of the bookstore, though not before he gave a slight wink to the bookseller. James left the bookstore and headed towards the south western area of the city, towards the blacksmiths. James pondered what he would buy. "If I plan to dual wield I'll need another sword, and some more armor couldn't hurt either" "I'm not too familiar with that area, so I'll meet you there." said Sarah. "I'm going to go look at spell books." She left north from the bookstore. "I'll be going with you," Linus said to Sarah. "I'm going to need a spellbook as well, for my Thunderbolt."