You folk think WAYYYY too much of Mario. As an assassin, to steal from Tolkien, the tale grew with the telling. He did not appear to be anything other than a talented young man who came up with a good plan. He had one good strike. He disappeared. He is not a master-assassin except in the minds of historians. Frankly, I think his greatest coup was not killing the emperor, but rather scoring with the heiress! Now THAT was an act of exceptional talent. On Jan 14, 2004, at 3:43 PM, Trager wrote: >> >> And just how /has/ Paarfi managed to be that good a swordsman, to >> survive all those duels over the years? >> > > That's easy... It's the deep dark secret that Monsieur Brust doesn't > want you to find out -- Paarfi is Mario. > >