[K]

A Skull Earing is generally good enough to kill just about anything human or humanish, but more serious combatants won't be beaten by anything less than a powerful mage. That means that a big investment of items is generally not worth the time.

On a related note, in a SP game I once came across an indie province with Phantasmal Warriors. Curious, I sent in a seducer and got Boliver Wise, an Air 6 Illusionist!