Lessons That Still Apply

[Qabian]

By the time I first joined the Grim, the lead mages, Grainger and Regnanetah, seemed to prefer fighting to talking. Not surprisingly, there was little to find of them in the archives regarding my interactions with them. However, despite the incomplete nature of my memory, there are certain useful lessons that I can recall. I will detail two of them here.

INTENSITY FROM GRAINGER

The first time I moved against a large target with the Grim was, I believe, into Karazhan. I had completed my studies and earned the title of Magister less than a week before. When I entered Karazhan, I was there for the purpose of making mistakes and learning from them. After reviewing my amateur performance, it was Grainger who taught me the use of a technique known as "scorch weaving" that involved interspersing the casting of fireball with scorch in the most effective manner known at the time.

While technique itself has long since become obsolete, the core lesson behind "scorch weaving" has remained steadfastly true, a lesson which I call here, for lack of a better term, Intensity.

By Intensity, I refer to the concept that whenever you are casting a spell in combat, the next spell you will cast should already be halfway complete, with the goal being that there should be no pause whatsoever between spells.

To put it in more childish terms Grainger would never have used, Intensity is as core to fighting with magic as the alphabet is to language: the ABCs of combat - Always Be Casting. There must always be a continuous sequential flow of magic. Any break in the spell sequence is time that an enemy can use to overwhelm you.

While I took the lesson of Intensity to heart when learning about "scorch weaving" and I have held it to be highly important ever since, it can at times be difficult to put into practice. Knowledge of the most effective sequence and priority usage of spells is an absolute requirement for Intensity, thus the importance of research cannot be overstated.

In the past, movement necessary for avoidance has been an issue for maintaining Intensity, but today, that is rarely the problem for a mage. However, when any given enemy is not well understood, either through lack of research or lack of experience, pauses in the spell sequence can arise from hesitation and uncertainty. Thus, Intensity is something any good mage struggles to maintain and perfect through every single fight in which they participate.

CONFIDENCE FROM REGNANETAH

One of the earliest encounters I participated in with the Grim was the defeat of High King Maulgar and his court of ogres. One of the court was a massive caster named Krosh, who shielded himself with a spell that mages could steal. As the most junior mage and least experienced, I assumed this extremely important task would be taken up by one of the others.

My assumption was incorrect.

Regnanetah had no interest in taking the position and he delegated the vital role to me.

While this was absolutely overwhelming at first, and more than once the Grim fell to Maulgar's court because of my incompetence, giving me this role so early in my time with the Grim quickly developed my sense of usefulness to the group and my capacity to take on challenges that initially seemed beyond my skills. I found there was little to fear after that time. When the time came to take a similar role in fighting Zerevor of the Illidari Council, I did not hesitate for a moment.

As little hesitation as possible is required to be a good mage, and to be a good fighter of any style most likely.

I have come to believe that while it is rare for mages to be expected to stand as vanguards anymore, and even rarer for mages to be absolutely required for a fight to succeed, stepping into those situations is extremely useful in developing a mage's sense of importance and understanding of their skills. I would likely have never done either without Regnanetah's prompting.

Confidence is another thing that my time among the Bronze has unfortunately degraded in me, but it is a skill at first bestowed on me by others that I can now practice and hone into the future with each new fight in which I take part.

--

Those two taught me well and I am not surprised some memories of them remain. Despite my eventual position leading Grim mages, not a single one of them who came after made enough of an impression for me to be capable of recalling them at this time, but Grainger and Regnanetah will always represent truly skilled magic to me.