Ice Shield
Seasonal
09-26-2021, 09:16 PM
Misery loved the snow. It seemed like a lot of wolves preferred warmer weather but not Misery. Snow was his best friend when it came to hiding himself and ample options for springing traps those not expecting it. This year he hadn’t played any games with traps though on the other wolves. Not that it couldn’t be fun but it was repetitive and he had to step up his game. He was sitting under a tree looking up at all the icicles hanging from it pondering thoughtfully. Icicles were sharp. Getting up he trotted off and made his way to the lake and sat down where a line of ice coated it but it wasn’t nearly as solid as the prior year. The ice here was flat. It wasn’t that this surprised him so much as he was musing over the fact that ice come shape into any form. That should be useful to a wolf with a brain, right? Misery had pressed a paw on the lake and watched how the ice would crack as he increased his weight. No walking over it this year. If a wolf fell into that water and that frozen ice it could possibly be more than just a surprise shock and potentially dangerous. Not something useful now but it could be in the future. So if he was to use ice to make a fighting weapon what sort would it be? It wouldn’t last once winter ended so perhaps it was better to make a weapon that would do the most damage possible at cost of only one use? Flat ice could be a shield where as icecles were more like a weapon. What if he wanted a different shape? There was water easily accessible under the layer of ice. What shape did he want the water to be in? Misery pressed hard enough on the ice so that a portion broke through. Laying down he watched the water gliding below. After several minutes Misery stood up stretching with a secretive smile on his face. He figured out the ‘what’ now he needed to figure out ‘how’. A shield of ice with spikes on it sounded perfect. A defensive item and if slung at the enemy if he got lucky it might break and have spikey ice go into the opponent. He’d need to test it but that was fine. Wendigo would probably let himself be used. Misery followed the waterway, heading away from the volcano and the natural heat source that would have been part of the reason for thinner ice. Farther down he tested the ice again and while it would still surely break if he put enough weight on it, the ice was definitely sturdier than it had been closer to the den. Misery strode off and found a good rock and brought it back to toss on the icy surface. Surprise surprise the ice broke where it landed. Misery repeated the task a short distance away so that there was now a good chunk of ice that was mostly split away from the rest of the ice. Lying down the black and silver wolf neared the water and stretched out his neck to get the ice in the edge of his mouth to get it close enough for a better bite. It was harder than he expected to pull the ice onto shore. A large enough piece of ice had some weight to it. Patience and effort paid off though and eventually his ice chunk was on shore. Misery could make it look nicer or use it as it was for a shield but he also wanted spikes on it and smaller to move easier. Once more Misery left to go to the tree’s where he felt like a large pup, jumping up to shake branches and knock off some icicles. Some broke when they landed and others didn’t. Misery gathered up a good 8 moderate sized icicles and went back to the shield. Looking about Misery found a rock with a crevice in it and went to the lake to scoop up some water. Water when cold enough became ice, well it was certainly cold enough today. Another thing that took a while but would be worth it was making the spikes stick, at least hopefully it would be worth it. Misery used some little rocks to help hold all the icicles where he wanted them on the ice shield before pouring the water he’d collected around the icicles that were propped up. Assuming he was right the water he had poured would help glue the icicles onto the shield so it become one solid piece. Stepping back a few paces he lay down, yawned and waited an hour. Would it take that long? Maybe or maybe not but he wanted to be sure they were frozen solid and not easily shaken off. After the hour he got more water and poured that over the whole shield to offer it another layer of strength. After another hour of waiting Misery lifted the shield up to test it. He hadn’t shaped it as earlier planned. Well, he’d already spent enough time on just making it. This weapon wouldn’t last past the winter anyway so maybe he’d just skip it. Picking up his weapon Misery pushed it up against a tree. Before he tried using it in a fight he should test it. Misery threw a small rock against it and watched the rock bounce back. A rock the size of his paw was thrown against it and Misery walked up to study the ice. That was fine as well. Misery pressed his paw against the ice and no sign of cracking. The truth was he planned on it breaking in a fight if he got lucky so did he want to press it much more? It could handle a light shot at it and if it broke on something harder then it was just a perk. One more thing. Misery picked up the shield, lifted his head up so he would be staring at the sky if not for the shield in his mouth then tossed the shoulder on the somewhat snowy ground. It didn’t break, good enough. Misery smiled as he picked back up his weapon and stepped away as he thought over who he would use it on. Speech:"Want to play? "
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