What is the red skull cloud in Sea of Thieves?

Sea of Thieves has an array of mysteries around it. Some of them center of the epic Tale Tells being told by the NPCs, and many of them are the layers of mechanics found throughout the game where developers leave small, detailed hints about what players need to do within it. A large, almost unavoidable sight you may encounter in the game is seeing a large red skull hanging in the sky. What does it mean?

If you see a large skull with red eyes in the sky, it means you’re heading towards a Fort of the Damned fight, and it’s going on right now. Fort of the Damned encounters only occurs when a group of players has obtained the six flames of fate, and they have a ritual skull. Collecting these items is no easy task, and a crew of four players have likely worked hard to active the Fort of the Damned battle and are attempting to survive the encounter.

These battles are complicated, and the four-person crew attempting to conquer it probably have their work cut out for them. However, even if they did activate the fight, you can still drop in on it if it’s going on. You can choose to jump in on a crew’s attempt and sabotage them or wait it out until they’ve completed it.

If you’re looking for large, fully red skulls hanging the sky, these were a festive skull fort added to the game for a limited time. These skull forts were designed for Ashen skull forts. They were the traditional skull forts you’d fight, but at the time, they had a festive theme to them. They have greater rewards than the conventional skull forts, though.

If you see a skull with red eyes in the sky, you and your crew can ask yourselves if you’re willing to take the risk against a strong enough crew who are attempting such a feat. But if there’s a large, red skull hanging above, you certainly want to make your way over to see what festive Sea of Thieves fort you can get yourself into at the moment.