On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Philip Hart wrote: #To build a pipe bomb (useful to assassins, I should think) wouldn't #even require the metallurgical skills. Useful to assassins? Maybe. They'd have to be able to set it off remotely when they are sure the target is in place and no untargeted person will be in range. Sorcery seems to be up to that; I mind me of near the end of _Teckla_, when Vlad arranges to signal the Left Hand sorceress to put up a teleportation block by heating up a coin that he gives her in advance. But it's still not as precise as a knife in the eye or the back. -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website