The Apprentice (2006)
> x skeleton (@ Eternal bridge)
It looks evil intended. There are flesh leftovers on it..
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Skeletons in Interactive Fiction 
Let's look at some skeletons! Mostly human and dead skeletons, but sometimes there's animal skeletons and undead skeletons.
Related categories: TODO bones, corpses, TODO remains, and skulls.
"Skeleton" icon by Houda Mbarki from Noun Project (CCBY3.0)
The Apprentice (2006)
> x skeleton (@ Eternal bridge)
It looks evil intended. There are flesh leftovers on it..
Baluthar (2003)
> x skeleton (@ Dungeon)
It looks like no more than a skeleton. You have seen hundreds like it in the tombs below the temple of Yachvee in the village.
Birmingham IV (2018)
> x skeleton (@ Octagonal Chamber)
The Phil has arrived too late for this poor fellow.
> x giant skeleton (@ By the ruins)
The blackened bones of a man who, in life, would have stood nine feet tall. There is nothing here to show who he was, or how he lived.
Blue (2011)
> x skeleton (@ Beach)
Undoubtedly human.
Castaway (1986)
> x skeleton (@ Burial Grounds)
The Cenric Family Curse (2013)
> x skeleton (@ undertomb)
It is a skeleton that has come to life. Its bones held together by ethreal threads of the supernatural. Your curse must be trying to stop your mission.
Cheater (1996)
> x coyote skeleton (@ Treasure Chamber)
The skeleton of a coyote.
The Chinese Room (2007)
> x skeleton (@ Fourth Chamber)
The yellowed and wasted skeleton is grinning broadly -- or perhaps that's just the effect of your skin dissolving into dust and your clothes into rotted rags about you. It's slumped in the machine, wearing a large metal helmet which covers most of its skull -- a vizor over its eye sockets, plugs in its ear holes, even a cord leading into its mouth -- leaving exposed only that awful, leering smile.
The skeleton also seems to be clutching a peculiar hat in its bony hand.
Citizen of Nowhere (2019)
> x skeleton (@ Unfair Maze Room)
What looks like an ancient skeleton of some poor soul who got lost in here. He or she is clutching two broken halves of a way diviner.
The Coast House (2001)
> x skeleton (@ Deep Inside Cemetery)
With morbid curiosity, you kneel towards the grave. You're amazed and appalled that through some freak accident, you're able to look upon the remains of your grandmother! As the breach in her grave cover has left her exposed for some time, she basically now just looks like a dry skeleton covered in some tattered and faded fabric that, at one time, must have been a nice dress. The dress is complimented by a small locket.
Coffee Quest II: A Day At The Office (2002)
> x skeleton (@ Caretakers Cupboard)
The skeleton is a collection of bones, probably of human origin.
Cragne Manor (2018)
> x bones (@ Bridge (in the water underneath))
Lurking in the water before you, half-submerged in the silt, is the skeleton of some colossal beast. Its posture is contorted, as though it were twisting around to snap at something above it. The bones are completely bleached white; every scrap of flesh picked clean by a thousand passing creatures. Probably a predator, you determine from the sharp teeth, a few jagged and broken. Its cavernous jaw has been locked in place, open and inviting. The gap is just big enough to swim inside, if you are cautious.
> x cows (@ Outside the Plant)
More like skeletons than cows. Their jugulars are pockmarked with little incisions, bodies collapsed like juice-boxes sucked down to the last drop.
> x door (@ Cragne Family Plot)
A crude skeleton, grinning and capering, is incised into the metal. It reminds you of medieval art you saw in college, primitive and alien--but there's something odd about the shape of the skull. A banner above the skeleton reads, worn and barely legible, "Mors ultima linea rerum est."
> x remains (@ The Cragne Manor's Back Garden)
The body of a person wearing gardening overalls and a rotted straw hat lies at the bottom of this once-hidden pond. Their flesh has mostly melted away, leaving a grinning skull that belies their violent end. Vines are hungrily wrapped around the gardener's skeleton and one of the person's hands still clutches at their own throat. [if has screwdriver:] Their other hand grasps a rusty screwdriver.
> x thorax (@ MASTER BEDROOM)
Your body is surrounded by a dully reflective exoskeleton. You've never contemplated what it would be like to exist in this world with your bones on the outside, and now that you're in a position to consider it, the screaming habdads preclude any hypothetical attempts at scientific inquiry.
> x bones (@ Greenhouse)
The bones are black with yellow fungal growth, and swing unnervingly from their wires. Probably made of painted plaster of Paris, they might once have formed the skeleton of some kind of elasmosaurus.
> x bones (@ Constabulary Road)
The mineralized remains of a gargantuan predatory beast.
You don't know much about ancient bones. Perhaps the paleontologist could tell you more.
Darkiss Chapter 1: the Awakening (2015)
> x skeleton (@ Torture chamber)
[if 1st time] Looking at those fetid bones, you suddenly remember the reverend Maximilian Bauer. [else] Those fetide bones belonged to the reverend Maximilian Bauer. [end if] Another fool who ignited your anger by attempting to destroy you with an exorcism. You sentenced him to be eaten alive by rats. Probably, when you caught him and locked in the cage, he thought he would be "only" tortured and killed by starvation, as many others before him. But you felt so inspired that night that you decided to use your telepathic powers to set up a memorable execution. It is impossible to forget his face when he saw the horde of rats entering the torture chamber and then filling up the cage, feasting upon him...
Dial C for Cupcakes (2014)
> x skeleton (@ Hall)
It's a bunch of bone-shaped stickers, arranged in an arms-akimbo, "What have we here? A fleshy person?" pose.
Down, the Serpent and the Sun (2015)
> x skeleton (@ Stomach)
Its skull rotates to stare at you. It is not living, but neither is it dead.
Dr Horror's House of Terror (2021)
> x skeleton (@ The Pool of Death)
The skeleton, partially covered in scraps of dissolving clothing and skin, bobs up and down in the pool, slightly fizzing.
> x Beanie (@ Studio Crypt)
A partially dissolved skeleton connected to a couple of relatively unscathed arms. Beanie seems to look at you with one good eye!
> x skeleton (@ The Ruins of Men-nefer)
Lying propped up against the wall, just next to the holes in the floor, the skeleton seems to be giving you a hideous knowing smile!
Eat Me (2017)
> x little skeleton (@ Dungeon (south cell))
You're not the first. Others have been tempted into this castle with sweet promises. Some come from poverty, some come from wealth, some come questing for admittance themselves. They hope to find what they can't find outside. All have an appetite, and most succumb.
Escape from the Underworld (2008)
> x skeleton (@ Torture chamber 1)
Eye of the Inca (1992)
> examine skeleton (@ Emperor's waiting room)
The most obvious thing you notice about the skeleton is the condition of the skull. It's been crushed by some heavy object, apparently being the cause of death!
Gaucho (2012)
> x skeleton (@ Cemetery)
The skeleton's jaw is set in determination, and it seems to be eying you warily. Maybe that's because of the bullet hole in the back of its skull? That would be enough to make most people mistrustful of strangers. [if has keys, add:] The skeleton clasps a ring of keys tightly in both its hands.
> x skeleton (@ Cemetery)
General Jebbidiah Alden, or at least his earthly remains, wears what you imagine to be the formal parade outfit of a 19th century general: a heavy coat decorated with dozens of badges - packed so closely they are almost micro-sized - a tall hat with a horse hair plume (you might have seen one of those on Mulberry Street), and a heavy belt buckle painted with a mountain and a white plume of smoke emerging from it. The skeleton's hands are wrapped together [if empty], as if it should be holding something, but they are empty [else] and holding the whiskey flask [end if]. At its feet lies an orb pulsing with a faint blue light.
Glowgrass (1997)
> x Ancient skeleton (@ Sleep Area)
[if first time]With icy stabs of excitement coursing down your spine, you bend over the sad remains to examine them more closely.[end if]
The skeleton is moderately sized, but smaller than recent digs and salvaged files indicate was normal for an Ancient adult; this was almost certainly a young female. She lies on the bed crouched in a fetal position, her arms twisted as if shielding her face from intense pain. There is no obvious evidence of external injury, but the odd displacement of joints in the upper and lower limbs, along with deep cracking of the bone structure, suggests violent muscular spasms as she died. In her right hand, the woman clutches a small object; possibly some kind of electronic device, with leads running from the box in her hand to a headset draped across her skull.
[if first time]A gasp wells in your throat, as vividly you relive how it must have been; to suffer such agony, so young. For the first time you regret the empathic talent which led you to xenohistory. A moment later, the mood passes, leaving you still somehow chilled.[end if]
Goldilocks is a FOX! (2002)
> x skeleton (@ In a dungeon)
It's wearing a red cape with a hood. I guess this must be the elusive Little Red Riding Hood! No wonder she never made it to Grandma's house - she must have called at the wrong cottage by mistake, poor little twerp!
Grooverland (2021)
> x plastic skeleton (@ Stomach)
One of the skeleton's arms seems positioned like a lever.
> x skeleton (@ Welcome Booth)
This is a grinning skeleton. He sits in his booth and wears a paisley vest and a badge saying "Ask me anything--Wade."
Hercules! (2021)
> x Charon (@ Underworld)
All you can see of Charon is skeleton hands emerging from a long black cloak with the face covered.
The Hidden King's Tomb (2022)
> x skeletons (@ East Tunnel)
The skeletons have been arranged in a repeating pattern. Each kneels with its skull bowed. They face east.
> x skeletons (@ West Tunnel)
The skeletons have been arranged in a repeating pattern. Each holds a shield and a spear at the ready. They face west.
> x skeleton (@ Hidden King's Tomb)
> x skeleton (@ Secret Queen's Tomb)
The House of Mystery (2018)
> x skeleton (@ Trespasser's Bedroom)
A spooky, scary skelly. It brings a shiver down your shine.
In a Tomb with a Donkey (2023)
> x skeleton (@ Crumbling Room)
The Isle of Statues (2012)
> x skeleton (@ You're in the middle of a small palm grove.)
The bones of a human skeleton have been bleached to a dead white by the sun and the wind, and the fine sand from the beach has polished their surface to make them almost shiny. The grin of the jaws is uncanny, while the bare sockets of the eyes seem to stare at you in shock and surprise. Shreds of rotten clothing hang around the naked bones, but not nearly enough to make out who he was, or when he arrived on the island.
Lydia's Heart (2007)
> x skeleton (@ A Room of Bones)
The skeleton is about five feet tall, and seems to be nearly complete. The flesh has long since dried up and blown away, except for slender ligaments that look to be holding the bones together in a coherent form — for now, anyway.
The Man in the Rain (2010)
> x skeleton (@ Mountain - base.)
It's a skeleton, but it's walking around.
The skeleton's endurance is currently [number] of 15.
Moonbase (2002)
> x skeleton (@ nest site)
The human skeleton, still partially clothed in the taters of a moonbase spacesuit, is partially buried in the rubble to one side of the crevass. The bones have been picked clean, and cracked open. Not much is left of the spacesuit except the metal fittings and a green air tank.
Muggle Studies (2012)
> x thestral skeleton (@ The Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom)
Phlegm (1996)
> x skeleton (@ In the Wall)
Pick Up the IF-Archive and Pi (2001)
> x skeleton (@ Oubliette)
Presumably someone else who disagreed with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's policies and paid the ultimate price. His left hand is clenched tight in a death-grip.
Poppet (2019)
> x skeleton (@ Office)
[1st time, as figure:] On second glance, you realize that this isn't a human at all. It's a medical skeleton, suspended from a wire dangling off a pole on a portable wheeled base. Its eyeless sockets and rictis grin are unnerving but harmless.
You're not sure why Grandfather would have such a grisly trophy in his office. Was Grandfather a doctor of some sort? You wrack your fluff brain trying to remember... You do remember visitors would come frequently, each one impatiently waiting in the foyer for their turn to enter the office and consult with Grandfather. You're just a doll, though, so it never occurred to you to be curious about that. Your only concern was Polly and her games. But Grandfather must have been a doctor and those visitors must have been his patients. That must be the explanation.
[else:] It's a medical skeleton, white bones gleaming in the dark. Suspended from a wire dangling off a pole on a portable wheeled base.
A faint flicker of blue firelight is visible deep in the skull's empty sockets.
The Profesee (1999)
> x skeleton (@ The Attic of the Eiffel Tower)
The skeleton of Nostradamus grins cruelly.
The Quest of the Golden Banana (2004)
> x skeleton (@ Narrow Red Ravine)
The bones have long since been bleached white, but it's undoubtedly a human skeleton, of a person who was once about 5'9" tall.
Scary House Amulet! (2002)
> x skeleton (@ In the House (kitchen))
Several Other Tales from Castle Balderstone (2020)
> x skeletons (@ Lake of the Dead)
The skeletons were actually walking on the water. And they had a coffin that they were carrying.
> x skeleton (@ Hedge Maze)
Evidently it did not occur to this individual to climb up the walls. [if has handaxe, add:] Its skeletal fingers are wrapped around a glittering handaxe.
Thorfinn's Realm (1999)
> x skeleton (@ Dungeon)
Truth (2014)
> x skeleton (@ Natural History Museum Lobby)
Easily identifiable as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, one of the most familiar of prehistoric monsters, crouching on its pedestal as if scrutinizing you.
The Wand (2017)
> x skeleton (@ Crypt)
The skeleton looks rather diminutive. Its bony hands hold a placard that says, "If you merge BROKEN OBJECTS with FIRE, you will get ASHES."
Waystation (1995)
> x skeleton (@ Sludge Plain)
Lying face-down on the plain, the skeleton has been here for a long time. [if has fedora] On its head is a battered brown fedora with a black band. [end if] Its right hand is frozen in a fist as if holding something, but several missing fingers show that whatever it was has been long since taken. [if has jacket] The remains of a leather jacket hang on it. [end if][if has whip] Coiled at its waist is something that looks suspiciously like a whip. [end if]
> x skeleton (@ Dead Forest)
The skeleton isn't really draped across the barricade--parts of it rest on the barricade, other parts rest on the forest floor behind and in front of the barricade. The skeleton is humanoid, but slightly different than yours. For one thing, the spinal cord is made of a network of triangular bones. For another thing, several of the bones are out of place, or are of the wrong size and shape.
Zeppelin Adventure (2018)
> x skeleton (@ rocky area)
A centuries-dead human skeleton, dressed in a severely decayed crinoline and a pair of pilot's goggles.
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