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Pathfinder Adventure Path #149
Pathfinder Adventure Path: Against the Scarlet Triad
The slavers known as the Scarlet Triad have been defeated twice before, and now the time has come for the heroes to confront them in their stronghold in the sprawling city of Katapesh. But the Triad still enjoys the support of the city's government; before the organization can be destroyed, the PCs will need to undermine the Triad's reputation, a task requiring guile, force of arms, and luck. The Age of Ashes Adventure Path continues with “Against the Scarlet Triad,” a complete adventure for 15th- to 17th-level characters.
96 pages, Paperback
Published November 26, 2019
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 21, 2025
While Against the Scarlet Triad isn't a great adventure, it's the best thus far in the Age of Ashes AP, following the improvement shown in Book 4. That said, this adventure is far from perfect. I'll run down a general plot and then outline some pros and cons.
Continuing their world tour, the PCs take leave of the dwarven ruins of the prior adventure through the Duskgate. In this gate's waystation, the heroes confront an elven curse, fight a monster in preview of the coming desert setting, and experience a dangerous vision of Dahak.
Once through this portal, the PCs are deposited near Finderplain, a waypoint for travelers between Nex, Katapesh, and the Wilds. After completing a few random quests for locals and potentially fighting a reskinned terror from the arctic, the heroes make their way to the Big City - Katapesh. It's here in Katapesh, hometown of the Scarlet Triad, that the adventure really gets underway.
Not able to effectively confront the Triad in battle, given the protection afforded the Triad by the Pactmaster rulers of Katapesh, the PCs undertake a series of tasks to undermine the local support for the group and effectively blackball the trade organization. These tasks are a mixed bag, with some being absolutely fantastic and others weak.
Once the tasks are complete, the party advocates for their position at the Council of Guilds, potentially persuading the guilds and Pactmasters to remove special protective status for the Triad.
The adventure culminates in the PCs infiltrating the headquarters of the Scarlet Triad to finally take the group down.
PLUSES:
- The writer makes pretty good use of the P2E Downtime rules to structure PC activities such as Building Connections, Earning Income, Hosting Events, Investigating the Scarlet Triad, Seeking Unusual Items, and Issuing Challenges.
- Some of the Tasks are extremely well-done, such as Blood on the Sand (PCs attempt to manipulate the Gladiator's Guild), Romancing the Camel (track a rare and elusive camel while overcoming its protector), and Metals and Malice (party helps redeem the reputation of an unfortunate merchant).
- The Tasks fit organically within the theme and plot of the adventure, in contrast with the "wokeness" quests found in Cult of Cinders.
- Battles are generally challenging and fun, with some creative opponents encountered. - The Council of Guilds. while short and sweet, is well-executed, and considers both success and failure on the part of the party.
- The article on witchwyrds is excellent and engrossing
MINUSES:
- Skill Challenges/Gauntlets: the Tasks get off to a poor start with "Liberation", which details a heist the party tackles. The task is broken up into stages where the party scouts the mission, infiltrates, and rescues. While well laid-out, the execution of this task involves the PCs hopping from one series of skill checks to another, making the entire undertaking feel more like a board game where you progress from one box to the next. Gone is the mode of play where the GM describes what the party sees and the party makes choices. Instead, once the party is finished with a skill challenge, the GM simply advances them to the next one up in the gauntlet. As an example, take Phase 3 of Liberation: Rescue. Instead of the GM describing the setting and the PCs responding, the Phase is broken down into "Obstacles" such as disarming traps, finding certain cells, unlocking doors, and breaking chains. All are simply skill checks that once passed, enable the obstacle to be overcome, and the next to immediately present itself. Opportunities and Complications can arise as well. This whole section feels almost like an experiment on the part of Paizo, and is similar to, though less well executed than, the 13th Age role playing system. It also feels like the Skill Challenges from 4th Edition D&D. For me, this is all far too structured and manufactured, minimizing the sense of freedom, adventure, and exploration that I've come to expect from TTRPG. If all this sounds good to you though, consider this a PLUS and not a MINUS and add a star to the overall rating.
- The usual Paizo gender activism is present, though in vastly limited doses. The worst case occurs when the female head of the Gladiators' Guild is potentially replaced...by yet another female gladiator. Nothing wrong with having the occasional strong female warrior, but absent magical aids, it strains verisimilitude and immersion to have strong warrior leader after strong warrior leader be female. Instead, it comes across as forced, and as if Paizo is trying to shove a real-world social message down our throats, which indeed, they are (-1 star).
- A huge opportunity is missed when the adventure doesn't flesh out Katapesh. Yes, there are other books where you can glean information about this city, but it would have been nice for Paizo to include such things as: Sights and Sounds of Katapesh, Rumors and Events unrelated to the adventure's plot, Geography and Town Layout, Law and Rulers, etc. All of this would help a GM to immerse his party in Katapesh, a city rife with potential for evocative flavor and tenor. (-1 star) - On that note, unfortunately, Paizo again misses an opportunity to hop off the Blandness Train as most of the Tasks and Guilds feel generic and as if they could exist and take place in any large city. - Interior art is not a strong point, with most NPC faces seeming straight out of Disney casting - cartoonish, with large winsome eyes. As well, art at times is grossly mismatched with descriptions. For example, Dwazo Yelsi is described as being 22 years old, yet his illustration portrays him as a man of perhaps twice those years.
- Scaling DCs can be an issue and strain immersion. For instance, at one point the party tracks down two fire-breathing monsters that have been plaguing caravans. A DC 45 Nature check, well outside the realm of normal mortals, can reveal "...its use of fire implies cold could be a potent weapon, but fire is unlikely to harm the creature." Uhh...ok. That seems rather basic, intuitive, and commonsensical. More like DC 10, if that.
- A couple NPCs for Breachill - the village the PCs began the adventure path in, way back in Hellknight Hill - are included on the inside of the back cover. While these may come in handy in the next adventure, which includes time spent in Breachill, they would have been far more useful back in Hellknight Hill.
All told, Against the Scarlet Triad is a passable adventure and the best in the Age of Ashes AP up to this point, less infested with the silly and divisive wokeness nonsense rampant in most other Paizo products.
Continuing their world tour, the PCs take leave of the dwarven ruins of the prior adventure through the Duskgate. In this gate's waystation, the heroes confront an elven curse, fight a monster in preview of the coming desert setting, and experience a dangerous vision of Dahak.
Once through this portal, the PCs are deposited near Finderplain, a waypoint for travelers between Nex, Katapesh, and the Wilds. After completing a few random quests for locals and potentially fighting a reskinned terror from the arctic, the heroes make their way to the Big City - Katapesh. It's here in Katapesh, hometown of the Scarlet Triad, that the adventure really gets underway.
Not able to effectively confront the Triad in battle, given the protection afforded the Triad by the Pactmaster rulers of Katapesh, the PCs undertake a series of tasks to undermine the local support for the group and effectively blackball the trade organization. These tasks are a mixed bag, with some being absolutely fantastic and others weak.
Once the tasks are complete, the party advocates for their position at the Council of Guilds, potentially persuading the guilds and Pactmasters to remove special protective status for the Triad.
The adventure culminates in the PCs infiltrating the headquarters of the Scarlet Triad to finally take the group down.
PLUSES:
- The writer makes pretty good use of the P2E Downtime rules to structure PC activities such as Building Connections, Earning Income, Hosting Events, Investigating the Scarlet Triad, Seeking Unusual Items, and Issuing Challenges.
- Some of the Tasks are extremely well-done, such as Blood on the Sand (PCs attempt to manipulate the Gladiator's Guild), Romancing the Camel (track a rare and elusive camel while overcoming its protector), and Metals and Malice (party helps redeem the reputation of an unfortunate merchant).
- The Tasks fit organically within the theme and plot of the adventure, in contrast with the "wokeness" quests found in Cult of Cinders.
- Battles are generally challenging and fun, with some creative opponents encountered. - The Council of Guilds. while short and sweet, is well-executed, and considers both success and failure on the part of the party.
- The article on witchwyrds is excellent and engrossing
MINUSES:
- Skill Challenges/Gauntlets: the Tasks get off to a poor start with "Liberation", which details a heist the party tackles. The task is broken up into stages where the party scouts the mission, infiltrates, and rescues. While well laid-out, the execution of this task involves the PCs hopping from one series of skill checks to another, making the entire undertaking feel more like a board game where you progress from one box to the next. Gone is the mode of play where the GM describes what the party sees and the party makes choices. Instead, once the party is finished with a skill challenge, the GM simply advances them to the next one up in the gauntlet. As an example, take Phase 3 of Liberation: Rescue. Instead of the GM describing the setting and the PCs responding, the Phase is broken down into "Obstacles" such as disarming traps, finding certain cells, unlocking doors, and breaking chains. All are simply skill checks that once passed, enable the obstacle to be overcome, and the next to immediately present itself. Opportunities and Complications can arise as well. This whole section feels almost like an experiment on the part of Paizo, and is similar to, though less well executed than, the 13th Age role playing system. It also feels like the Skill Challenges from 4th Edition D&D. For me, this is all far too structured and manufactured, minimizing the sense of freedom, adventure, and exploration that I've come to expect from TTRPG. If all this sounds good to you though, consider this a PLUS and not a MINUS and add a star to the overall rating.
- The usual Paizo gender activism is present, though in vastly limited doses. The worst case occurs when the female head of the Gladiators' Guild is potentially replaced...by yet another female gladiator. Nothing wrong with having the occasional strong female warrior, but absent magical aids, it strains verisimilitude and immersion to have strong warrior leader after strong warrior leader be female. Instead, it comes across as forced, and as if Paizo is trying to shove a real-world social message down our throats, which indeed, they are (-1 star).
- A huge opportunity is missed when the adventure doesn't flesh out Katapesh. Yes, there are other books where you can glean information about this city, but it would have been nice for Paizo to include such things as: Sights and Sounds of Katapesh, Rumors and Events unrelated to the adventure's plot, Geography and Town Layout, Law and Rulers, etc. All of this would help a GM to immerse his party in Katapesh, a city rife with potential for evocative flavor and tenor. (-1 star) - On that note, unfortunately, Paizo again misses an opportunity to hop off the Blandness Train as most of the Tasks and Guilds feel generic and as if they could exist and take place in any large city. - Interior art is not a strong point, with most NPC faces seeming straight out of Disney casting - cartoonish, with large winsome eyes. As well, art at times is grossly mismatched with descriptions. For example, Dwazo Yelsi is described as being 22 years old, yet his illustration portrays him as a man of perhaps twice those years.
- Scaling DCs can be an issue and strain immersion. For instance, at one point the party tracks down two fire-breathing monsters that have been plaguing caravans. A DC 45 Nature check, well outside the realm of normal mortals, can reveal "...its use of fire implies cold could be a potent weapon, but fire is unlikely to harm the creature." Uhh...ok. That seems rather basic, intuitive, and commonsensical. More like DC 10, if that.
- A couple NPCs for Breachill - the village the PCs began the adventure path in, way back in Hellknight Hill - are included on the inside of the back cover. While these may come in handy in the next adventure, which includes time spent in Breachill, they would have been far more useful back in Hellknight Hill.
All told, Against the Scarlet Triad is a passable adventure and the best in the Age of Ashes AP up to this point, less infested with the silly and divisive wokeness nonsense rampant in most other Paizo products.
Displaying 1 of 1 review