The Carved Stone Skull

The Carved Stone Skull
Items article
The Carved Stone Skull in Defiance
Introduced in	Legacy of Kain: Defiance (2003)
Appearance(s)	Defiance

The Carved Stone Skull was an artifact used by Kain in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. It could be found in the chapter Explore the Citadel and was discovered in the Water forge within Vampire Citadel.

Profile

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The Carved Stone Skull was a quest item in Legacy of Kain: Defiance that was used by Kain in the chapter Explore the Citadel as he ventured into the Vampire Citadel in Nosgoth's early history.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7][Defiance strategy guide]}

After entering the forge areas of the Vampire Citadel, Kain was transported through several warp gates, passing through the Light forge and fire forge on the way to the water forge. Within the forge Kain could find a sealed door in the main chamber notably containing spaces for two distinctively shaped artifacts. In an adjacent chamber Kain discovered the Carved Stone Skull on a small podium in front of the tomb of the original Guardian of States.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7][Defiance strategy guide]}

The item itself consisted of a golden skull overlaid on the abstract symbol for the principle of Death. The Death symbol in the background was a grey/brown or faintly golden color with a gold trim around the edges. Beneath the arch of the symbol the golden skull was positioned facing to the right - notably the skull was fanged and had a death symbol carved into its forehead.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7]}

Returning and collecting nearby Rusted Scales at the tomb of the original Guardian of Death, Kain could open the locked door and find a secret chamber where he could collect the Lightning fragment of the Balance Emblem.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7][Defiance strategy guide]}

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• The Carved Stone Skull is explicitly named as such in the inventory and its name is reiterated in the official guide.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7][Defiance strategy guide]} The artifact is labelled in game files as "cit_artifact_five" and its final holder is listed as "cit_lock_five".^{[Defiance][Defiance/7]}

  

  the Carved Stone Skull in the artifact room

• The Carved Stone Skull is notably representative of the principle of Death and the Pillar of Death - being made up of the abstract Death symbol used since Soul Reaver 2 and an ancient vampire skull.^{[Defiance][Soul Reaver 2]} Despite this, the item is actually found in front of the tomb of the original Guardian of States. Similarly the Rusted Scales represent the principle and Pillar of States and is found in front of the tomb of the original Guardian of Death.^{[Defiance][Defiance/7][Defiance strategy guide]} These represent not only the combination of both items required to open the lock but the elemental Water of the Water forge and Water Reaver - created by a combination of the states and death principles.^{[Defiance][Defiance/8][Defiance strategy guide]}
• As with some other items, the smaller inventory window shows slightly different colors to the item itself, with a lighter death symbol and a greater contrast between the symol and the skull.^[Defiance]
• Like the other quest items in Defiance, the Carved Stone Skull appears in the secret "artifact1a" room.^[Defiance]

Gallery

The initial location of the Carved Stone Skull

The Skull in the inventory

The Carved stone Skull lock (right) along with the Rusted Scales lock (left)

The texture of the skull item

The texture of the skull lock

See also

• Death
• States
• Original Guardian of States
• Rusted Scales
• Water
• Water Forge (Defiance)
• Mortanius's Death Orb