The Spike Bridge, as it looked at the end of Paintbrushturkey's reign.
The Spike Bridge is a particularly malevolent piece of architecture built during Draignean's and Sus's reigns, and considered Spearbreakers' first megaproject due to the amount of time, resources, and dwarfpower that went into it.
Function[]
Its purpose is to act as a crowd control measure, drawing enemies up through a special entry to the fortress while a citizen operates the lever controlling the hundreds of spikes, spears, and pikes. To date it isn't actually finished in its entirety, and was deemed "good enough" after its initial test run resulted in dozens of dead attackers, who either died avoiding the spikes or getting skewered on them.
Construction[]
Its main components are menacing iron spikes (with iron spears and pikes mixed in), and stone mechanisms hooked up to a central lever by a complex series of gears and axles hidden out of sight below the floors and in the walls. It is also known to have had pressure plates installed sometime following the fall of the fortress, likely due to the lever being destroyed or locked up with age.
Dwarven Losses[]
The Spike Bridge has killed, maimed, or had dwarves otherwise die on it several times.
- Tahudjt Dedukamost I - Swordsdwarf (KIA by bridge)
- Anri Datenbomrek I - Seige Engineer (KIA by bridge)
- Sus Medobostath II - Cousin of Sus Bibandeler, axedwarf (Crippled permanently by bridge)
- Sus Bibandeler I - Foreman/Overseer (KIA during rear guard operation on the bridge)