Skulls in Interactive Fiction

Arborea (2022)

> x skulls (@ Mist-shrouded Island)

It's not actually part of the general landscape of the simulation, but it's effectively part of it.

Baluthar (2003)

> x skull (@ Laboratory)

The skull is dry and cold.
No trace of flesh of blood remains on its lifeless white surface.

Basilica de Sangre (2018)

> x mossy skull (@ Crypt)

[as Ursula:] The smooth, rounded surface of the skull is covered with soft, fuzzy moss.
[else:] The grinning skull stares at you with empty black sockets. Its cranium is covered in a thick layer of velvety green moss.

Birmingham IV (2018)

> x sheep skull (@ Shallow Depression)

It is dead centre in the depression, and has clearly been placed deliberately. The skull seems nothing remarkable, and yet the Phil finds his skin crawling as he looks at it.

Bullhockey 2: The Return of The Leather Whip (2019)

> x skull (@ The Dungeon)

It is old and jawless, but you can see that it is a male skull--it has a pronounced brow line. This can't be Natalie's, which relieves you.

But the eye sockets are curious. They are jet black--you can't see to the back of the inside. Those sockets seem to beg a deeper look...

Citizen of Nowhere (2019)

> x skull (@ The Lonesome Hollow)

[if 1st time:] A perfectly carved human skull with a crown. It's likeness to your late father causes a reflective catch in your throat. Dylan senses your discomfort and nuzzles his wet nose against your hand.
[else:] A perfectly carved human skull with a crown.

Color and Number (2002)

> x skull button (@ Rail Room)

The skull button is the middle simple white button mounted on the console. On the button is a black drawing of a skull.

Cragne Manor (2018)

> x uncle (@ Family Crypt)

You don't know why you opened the coffin to find this skull, but here it is. You can see Uncle Harvawell's broad jawline and high cheekbones on the skull - it really does look just like him. You remember him smiling from the 6pm news, and you shudder as you look at him in his terminal location, wondering what questions you would ask him. This scene is his final, interred view.

> x skulls (@ Curiosity Shop)

The assorted animal parts are all extremely clean and well-preserved.

Crocodracula: The Beginning (2020)

> x skulls (@ Miss Muriel's Workshop)

You try not to look directly at the toothy skulls.

Down, the Serpent and the Sun (2015)

> x skull (@ Stomach)

The skeleton mumbles, "...poor soul... the serpent swallowed you as well..."

Dr Horror's House of Terror (2021)

> x skulls (@ Voodoo Temple)

They're obviously not real skulls. They look like they've been bought wholesale from some novelty store.

FORK: The Great Underground Dining Room (2007)

> x skulls (@ Panama Joe's Lounge)

Nothing really stands out about the skulls.

Gaucho (2012)

> x skull (@ Sheriff's Office)

Do cows really come in this size? This head dwarfs your own, and the horns stretch out for what seem like miles, but are probably only meters. You'd love to take this home for a trophy, but you doubt the tour guides would let you take it on the bus tomorrow. So best to leave it here.

Ghost Train (2003)

> x skull (@ Underground Cavern)

Twin skull shaped lamps mounted high up on the boiler, light the entrance to the tunnels.

Grooverland (2021)

> x skulls (@ Skull Scraper Sanctuary)

These are surprisingly true to life!

The Holy Grail (1989)

> x skulls (@ Alchemist's Shop)

Their empty sockets gaze sorrowfully back at you.

Koustrea's Contentment (2015)

> x skull (@ Cramped Office)

It is not like yours at all. It is small but wide, especially in the back. The eye sockets are small, low, and oblong. The color is mottled yellow, and the fixed joints are dark stains that wriggle numerously across the cranium. The mandible is missing.

Lethe Flow Phoenix: A Flight of Fantasy (1995)

> x sun-bleached skull (@ A burning desert)

The skull has been made fragile and white by exposure to the sun and sand. Two horns sprout from the forehead, and the teeth are long and pointed. It is from no creature you have ever seen before.

The Mouse Who Woke Up For Christmas (2018)

> x bird skull (@ Bottom of the Garden)

The calcified remains of a bird's skull. Judging by the thickness and strength of the beak it probably belonged to a member of the corvid family.

Pen and Paint (2010)

> x chameleon skull (@ Stairway to Surface)

These are prized among the goblins, and it should prove to be a perfect greeting. You're glad you didn't have to extract it yourself.

The Physiognomist's Office (2015)

> x skulls (@ Surgery)

Pale and clean, with shadowy eye sockets.

The Twelve Heads of St. John the Baptist (2007)

> x France head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

Polished carbuncles have been firmly fixed into the eye-sockets of this seemingly ordinary skull. The words "Saint Jean le Baptiste" have been roughly carved into the jaw.

> x Turkey head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

Flowing Arabic letters in gold leaf adorn the cheekbones of this bleached skull, which stares at you with unnerving ruby eyes.

> x England head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

This skull is bleached to a pure white. It is unadorned but for a band of silver about the head, with "Saint John the Baptist" inlaid in gold.

> x China head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

A plain skull, unmarked but for some very small Chinese characters inked on the inside. Disturbingly, it is full of cigarette butts and ash. Spherical jades set in the eye-sockets make this grisly artifact slightly less unnerving.

> x Greece head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

Delicate gold tracery is inlaid on this skull, otherwise unadorned but for the small malachite orbs resting in the eye-sockets. At the back of the skull, the tiny streams of gold collect intopools of gold leaf, spelling out the name of St. John in Greek.

> x Zimbabwe head (@ Chamber of the Heads)

It's just an ordinary old skull. You have no particular reason to think it's from Zimbabwe, but you've got to call it something. You wouldn't even suspect it of being the head of St. John the Baptist, except for where you found it.