TEXT: shadow of the demon lord
  ~Credits~
  WRITING and Design: Miranda horner
  dEVELOPMENT and art direction: rOBERT j. sCHWALB
  EDITING: Kim Mohan
  GRAPHIC DESIGN: hal mangold and Kara Hamilton
  LAYOUT: kara hamilton
  ILLUSTRATIONS: Jack Kaiser 
  cartography: Cecil Howe
  With My Last Scream is ©2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.  
  All rights reserved.
  Shadow of the Demon Lord, With My Last Scream, Schwalb Entertainment,  
  and their associated logos are trademarks of Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.
  Schwalb EntErtainmEnt, llc
  PO Box #12548
  Murfreesboro, TN 37129
  info@schwalbentertainment.com       www.schwalbentertainment.com
  With My Last Scream takes master characters to another 
  location near where they are adventuring, and you can 
  introduce it at any point in the game thanks to the main 
  character: the ghost of Perdita. Turn down the lights, add 
  in some ambient sounds, and see what the adventurers 
  make of this haunted house trap and its sole, lost 
  inhabitant. You might consider preparing some visual 
  aids ahead of time, too.
   Perhaps, during this scenario, the characters will 
  discover—or have underlined for them—that the worst 
  monsters can be human.
  
  shadow of the demon lord
  Getting Started
  Because you can run this encounter with a lost and 
  fragmented soul anywhere, it’s a location-neutral scenario. 
  You can drop it in anywhere the player characters might 
  be exploring, adjusting the appearance of the house as 
  necessary to match the region in which you place it. When 
  you’ve chosen a time and place, Perdita appears to the 
  player characters and leads the way to the doom that has 
  trapped her—and that could lead to the demise of one or 
  more of the characters.
   Perdita, a spirit, appears to the group as a living young 
  woman dressed in a modest ivory gown and introduces 
  herself to the characters in a soft voice. As she explains to 
  them that she needs their help at a nearby house, her eyes 
  are downcast, and her voice thickens occasionally with 
  unshed tears. Someone she loves dearly, whom she calls 
  Noira, has been trapped in the house by a demented and 
  abusive spouse, and she needs the group to help her free 
  that person. She offers to lead them to the residence, which 
  is not far away. When the characters enter the house, the 
  spirit disappears.
   Perdita is a ghostly fragment of the bride who was 
  captured and trapped within a manor house. When she 
  was alive, her spouse tormented her until she broke in  
  both mind and spirit. The husband, now long dead, 
  traveled away one day and never returned, leaving his 
  abused wife to die alone in the house. The name “Noira” 
  represents, to her, the memory of the life she lived—and 
  her spirit believes that she suffers still within the walls of 
  that hateful place.
  Using the Map
  The map is labeled with names for rooms. As the characters 
  choose which room to visit, use the numbered entries in  
  the Encounters section, in order, to describe what they  
  see in each room. If the player characters return to a room 
  they have previously visited, roll a d6. On a result of 1–3,  
  the room is vacant. On a result of 4–6, they experience a 
  new encounter in that room.
  The Rooms
  Below are brief descriptions of each of the locations within 
  the house. Each room contains an interesting item for 
  characters to take with them and that might help them as 
  they make their way through the house.
   Hall. The entry hall has a wooden floor that starts with 
  lighter-stained wood that darkens to black wood in the 
  center square. The furnishings are sparse. A dead floral 
  arrangement on the central table includes a glass rod upon 
  which is perched a luminescent purple and blue butterfly 
  that sheds light as a torch. The light cannot be extinguished 
  without destroying the object. The rod can be removed 
  from the arrangement.
   If the characters spend more than 1 minute in this room, 
  they hear the sound of a woman weeping somewhere in  
  the house.
   Parlor. Moth-eaten draperies that were once dark green 
  frame the windows of this room. Furniture of dark wood 
  complements the paneling throughout the area. Everything 
  smells musty. The gaping fireplace contains a silvered iron 
  poker that gleams. A character who touches any part of the 
  poker but the handle is burned and takes 1 damage, though 
  no fire keeps the iron warm. The heat from the poker is 
  sufficient to ignite flammable objects.
   The first time the characters return to this room, 2 clouds 
  of moths (as an animal swarm with the flier trait) flutter 
  from the walls, gather up, and attack the characters. Any 
  character attacked by the moths can make a Perception 
  challenge roll and hears, on a success, whispering cries  
  for help.
   Kitchen. Pots and pans cover many of the surfaces in 
  this kitchen. Food once stored here has long since rotted 
  or moldered away. Amid the items here, a snow globe 
  glimmers—the flakes swirling and sparkling, hiding some 
  structure within them. Holding the snow globe causes a 
  creature to either feel comforted (1–3 on 1d6) or anxious 
  (4–6 on 1d6). A comforted character makes Will challenge 
  rolls to resist gaining Insanity with 1 boon, while an anxious 
  character makes such rolls with 1 bane.
   Servant’s Room. A table and sideboards fill this room. 
  It looks like it hasn’t been used in a long time. Within an 
  otherwise empty sideboard is a fresh silk sachet that smells 
  of lavender and roses. The sachet’s scent never fades.
   Dining Room. The table here is set for one. Shards of the 
  rest of the place settings are scattered throughout the room 
  on furnishings and floor. Some of the shards have blood on 
  them. A sharp dagger with an enameled handle is stuck in 
  one of the walls. Violets decorate the handle.
   Library. The few books in this room are in pristine 
  condition. They cover topics concerning history and 
  agricultural practices. A delicate music box rests on a shelf 
  nearest the fireplace. Opening it causes the last few chimes 
  of its song to ring forth; then it falls silent. A creature that 
  hears the notes discovers they linger in the mind, imposing 
  1 bane on challenge rolls made to resist gaining Insanity. A 
  creature can rid its mind of the accursed notes by hearing 
  music performed by a skilled singer or musician or by 
  hearing the box play its entire song (which it does when 
  opened after being fully wound up).
   Study. The cozy seating arrangements here are in 
  disarray, as if someone had torn this place apart looking 
  for something. A broken chair leg has hair and dried blood 
  on it. In one of the windows, a pewter figurine of a kitten 
  watches the world outside. Touching the figurine makes it 
  purr, though there’s no apparent mechanism to cause the 
  sound. If Perdita attacks a character holding the kitten, she 
  makes the attack roll with 1 bane.
  2
  
  shadow of the demon lord
   Bedroom. The large room up the stairs has a shattered 
  door with what was once a rusty lock. The metal looks as 
  if it has been melted and twisted by a strong fire. The only 
  thing remaining in the room aside from an empty and 
  scarred bed frame is a stuffed dog toy crafted from brown 
  fur. It is stretched out squarely in the middle of the bed 
  frame, staring at the door from atop a pile of bloody white 
  shirts. It has dried blood on its real-looking teeth, and has 
  a rent in its underbelly, which is “leaking” rust-colored 
  stuffing. (Perhaps it can be sewn back together?)
   The roof, when it collapsed, destroyed most of the second 
  floor, making it impossible to explore without clearing it 
  first. You could expand the adventure by adding additional 
  rooms to this floor.
  3
  
  shadow of the demon lord
  FRAGMENTED PSYCHE 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 1 horrifying spirit
  Perception 16 (+6); darksight
  Defense 19; Health 80
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from cold, disease, and poison; asleep, 
  diseased, fatigued, immobilized, insanity, poisoned, 
  prone
  Insubstantial A fragmented psyche takes half damage  
  from weapons, can move through solid objects and  
  other creatures, and ignores the effects of moving  
  across difficult terrain.
  Dazing Horror Creatures that gain Insanity from a 
  fragmented psyche are dazed for as long as they are 
  frightened. If the target is already dazed, it becomes 
  stunned for the duration instead.
  Unsettling Presence Each creature within long range of  
  a fragmented psyche that attempts to rest must attempt 
  a Will challenge roll at the end of the rest. On a failure, 
  the creature gains no benefit from the rest.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Tendrils (melee) +5 with 3 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The fragmented psyche attacks twice with 
  its tendrils.
  Soul-Rending Scream Each creature within medium range 
  of the fragmented psyche that can hear the fragmented 
  psyche scream must make a Will challenge roll with 
  1 bane. On a failure, the creature gains 1 Insanity (see 
  Dazing Horror). Once the fragmented psyche uses this 
  attack, it cannot do so again for 1 minute.
  MAGIC 
  Power 3
  Illusion clamor (4), figment (2), vertigo (2), glamer (1), 
  phantasm (1)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Epic Recovery The fragmented psyche removes one 
  affliction from itself.
  Epic Adversary Roll 1d3 + 1 to determine how many actions 
  the fragmented psyche can use during the next round. 
  The fragmented psyche can use these actions during any 
  turn and can do so before its enemies act. Each time the 
  fragmented psyche uses an action, it can  
  move up to its Speed before or after the action.
  Maddening Grief Each living creature within short range of 
  Perdita must make a Will challenge roll. A creature gains 
  1 Insanity, or becomes immune to Maddening Grief for 1 
  minute on a success.
  Running Perdita
  Each time Perdita (see the fragmented psyche, below) 
  appears in a room, there is a description of what she looks 
  like and what she might be doing as described under 
  Ghostly Encounters. Deliver that information first, then 
  allow the characters to interact with Perdita. She follows 
  the routine outlined below until they find her corpse in  
  the final encounter (8. You Are Nothing):
  1. The characters are immediately subjected to her 
  Maddening Grief effect.
  2. The spirit uses Soul-Rending Scream as soon as she can.
  3. She fights for 1d3 rounds after she screams and then uses 
  her insubstantial trait to pass through walls.
  Defeating Perdita at any point before the final encounter 
  does not purge her presence from the house, but it does 
  weaken her. It takes 1d3 minutes for her spirit to re-form 
  with a –10 penalty to Health. The penalty is cumulative. 
  Until she re-forms, the characters experience no 
  encounters, regardless of how many rooms they explore.
  Insidious Insights: Tracking 
  the Frightened Affliction
  When a character in the house gets a failure on a 
  challenge roll to resist gaining Insanity, the character must 
  immediately make a Will challenge roll with a number of 
  banes equal to his or her Insanity total. On a failure, the 
  character relives an experience suffered by Perdita. You 
  can roll a d20 to determine the experience randomly or 
  choose one that suits the character. You can read aloud the 
  appropriate text, pass it to the player on a piece of paper, 
  or pull the player aside. It’s important that you deliver this 
  information in a way that makes the player feel as if he 
  or she was the one saying the words. For each frightening 
  experience a character has during the adventure, the 
  character makes challenge rolls to resist Perdita’s attacks 
  with 1 boon.
  Frightening Experiences
  d20
  Experience
  1–2
  He’s back from town, and he sees the fire has died 
  down. He will whip you for letting it happen. You know 
  it. Where did Fidelius go? His barks usually warned you 
  about his arrival.
  3–4
  You burned the food again. Why do you always lose 
  track of time like this? Now he’s going to hurt you.
  5–6
  Your sister told him that she never wants to see 
  someone as horrible as you again. You’re all alone  
  now. Except for him.
  7–8
  You must hide that you’ve been crying. He doesn’t like 
  that. You must always be cheerful, or he’ll give you 
  more reasons to cry.
  9–10
  You broke his favorite plate. He’s cutting you with the 
  shards now. Time to go to that other place where it’s 
  safe. You wish you could stay there.
  11–12
  Why can’t you find his boots? Where did they go? You 
  must clean them before he leaves again. Or else.
  13–14
  He says your mother is dead. Why did she leave you to 
  this? To him? She warned you. You should have listened. 
  And now, you can’t find the new kitten.
  15–16
  You tried to run away again. He found you. Your ribs 
  hurt now, and it’s so hard to breathe.
  17–18
  How can you get his clothes ready when you have so 
  many burns on your hands? It’s true what he says about 
  you. You can never do anything right.
  19–20
  The blood. You got some on his white shirt. It’s your 
  fault, of course, because you earned his punishment. 
  Now he’ll punish you for this, too.
  4
  
  shadow of the demon lord
  Ghostly Encounters
  Use the following encounters in the order in which they 
  are presented. A new encounter takes place whenever the 
  characters enter a room they have not visited before, or on 
  a 50% chance (4–6 on 1d6) if they reenter a room they’ve 
  already been in. 
  1. You Cannot Leave
  After they enter the house, the door slams shut behind  
  the characters, and Perdita turns toward them (see  
  Running Perdita). After the fragmented psyche departs  
  or is defeated, a ripped piece of parchment flutters down  
  from above. On it are these words, written in wet blood:
  You cannot leave
  The characters are now locked in the house and around it 
  gathers a thick, impenetrable fog. Characters who leave,  
  by kicking down a door or break a window, find themselves 
  in a misty area that reduces visibility to 5 yards. The fog 
  spreads 100 yards away from the house in all directions and 
  remains until no living characters are in the house or in the 
  fog. The fog also dissipates when Perdita is freed. When 
  a character travels 50 yards or more from the house, a 
  wraith materializes and attacks, trying to drag the cowardly 
  explorer to Hell. The wraiths do not pursue the characters 
  beyond the fog.
  2. You Are Mine
  The area feels tight, compressed, when the characters walk 
  into it—and it seems hard to breathe, almost as if they were 
  being smothered. In this area, the group finds a woman in 
  sleeping garb hunched over on the floor, sobbing loudly 
  and holding her face. Blood stains the sleeves of her gown, 
  and a rope leads away from her bound wrists to an unseen 
  object.
   When she vanishes, another piece of parchment is left 
  behind with these words:
  You are mine
  3. You Are Unworthy of Love
  The characters see in this room a woman wearing a dark 
  dress, staring at nothing and holding a ripped note. She 
  has bruises on her face, and her freshly split lip and broken 
  nose are streaming blood. She looks at the characters with 
  eyes that are wide-eyed in fear or despair, though the rest 
  of her face lacks expression. The air in this room seems 
  expectant, waiting. Then she opens her mouth to scream.
   When she departs, the ripped note is left behind. On  
  one side, these words are written in a flowery hand:
   
  Once-Dearest Sister,
  Mother is dead. I can’t believe it, 
  but she is. I can’t believe it, much 
  like I can’t believe how you have 
  ignored your own family so much 
  since haring off with your husband. 
  How could you leave us like that? 
  Leave Mother? What a terrible 
  person you are. You’re lucky that 
  your new husband came by before 
  her death to tell us
  The note is ripped here; the rest of the message is absent.
  On the other side, these words are scrawled:
  You are unworthy of love
  4. Nobody Cares About You
  The air in this room is freezing cold. The woman, wearing 
  a mud-covered dress, holds herself and paces slowly back 
  and forth, trying to breathe. Her face is a study in pain, and 
  her breathing seems very shallow. Her hair is half unbound 
  and smeared with mud. She looks at the characters, and 
  then draws a shallow breath.
   After she leaves, a parchment note on the floor, lying in a 
  smear of mud, reads as follows:
  Nobody cares about you
  5. You Are Crazy
  Upon entering this room, the characters feel their skin 
  itching as if they were covered with spiders or insects. The 
  woman appears in front of them, crouched on the floor, 
  and stares at a spot behind them. She rocks back and forth 
  on her heels. She holds up her arm, which is twisted at an 
  unnatural angle. You can see bone coming through the rent 
  sleeve. She opens her mouth.
   A scrap of torn fabric that remains on the floor in her 
  absence has these words written on it:
  You are crazy
  5
  
  shadow of the demon lord
  6. Nobody Will Believe You
  The characters feel their scalps prickle as if their hair 
  were standing on end. The woman holds herself and cries 
  silently, silvery tears streaming down her face and a piece 
  of paper forgotten in her hand. When she notices you, she 
  begins to scream.
   The paper says this on the front:
  Former Sister,
  Your darling and aggrieved husband 
  has come by to tell us the news that 
  you consider us to be unworthy of 
  your attention. He says he doesn’t 
  understand it either, but all I can 
  say is this: As you apparently feel 
  you must forsake us, so do we. Never 
  contact us again.
  On the backside are these words, etched in light  
  silvery fluid:
  Nobody will believe you
  7. You Are Not a Person
  A feeling of dread settles on the characters when they 
  enter the room. The woman’s disheveled garb is ripped in 
  the front, and she’s pulling a shard of dishware from the 
  soft area near her shoulder blade. She drops it to the floor 
  when she sees the group.
   The shard has these words scratched on it, amid the 
  fresh blood:
  8. You Are Nothing
  The final room lies before the characters, containing 
  nothing but the spirit of Perdita, her hair ragged and her 
  dress filthy, crouching on the floor. A stench of body odor 
  combined with the tang of blood and viscera hangs heavily 
  in the air. Run the combat encounter, then proceed to 
  Aftermath if even one of the characters survives. 
  Aftermath
  An ethereal wind swirls around the spot where the spirit 
  vanished, revealing a pile of bones, somehow previously 
  masked by the spirit’s power. The bones belong to a long-
  dead human woman and under them is a final note that 
  reads: 
  To Perdita Noira, though you do not deserve to have a 
  name, do you?
  I’m leaving for a few months to attend to matters that 
  you would never understand with your limited intelligence. 
  I doubt you can keep the house up to my standards 
  since you’ve fallen so far. Why I married you, I cannot 
  understand. If you can even understand this note, then 
  know this: I consider our relationship ended. You are 
  nothing. Barely human. Never sane, certainly. What I 
  loved was a facade. A fakery. A f lummery. I am, alas, 
  disappointed in myself for having fallen for such a poor 
  shadow of a human being. I will do better next time. As 
  for you, again, you are nothing.
  I’m leaving the door open this time. Please leave. Or kill 
  yourself. It matters not to me. Or anyone, really. Nobody 
  cares about you at this point, especially after all the 
  stories they know about how terrible a wife you have been 
  to me.
  Grant Noira
  When the characters read this letter, Perdita, as she 
  originally appeared to the characters, shows up. She says 
  these words: “Destroy this house and all within it. Set me 
  free, please.”
   Anything that destroys the house sets Perdita free so her 
  soul can resume its normal path.
   If characters follow up on Grant Noira, such as by 
  investigating nearby locales, they learn he died at the hands 
  of bandits while traveling. It was a quick death. Perdita’s 
  sister’s family died in a fire not long after Grant’s last visit to 
  them. The soul of Grant might have returned to the world 
  since this time, in fact, as you decide.
  6
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadow of the Demon Lord/Adventures/Master/SotDL - With My Last Scream (master).pdf