"Barmaid! Another!!" the white jackal roared and pounded on the table. It wasn't even the alcohol making him rowdy; his half-mechanized body was basically resistant to the stuff. No, it was the ambient mana he was able to drain from the patrons of the bar, as well as their fiery fox friend, that was getting Jabari inebriated.

"You should not consume so much." came a low, wisened rumble. "Gluttony is unbecoming. It leads to foolishness and folly."
It was hard to believe the hulking water buffalo could pour himself another cup of sake with such grace and poise. Tai was a mote of serenity amidst the storming chaos of the bar. "I have read that the Olivians have declared their allegiance to the Alunis Crossways. We should rest here, then move on at first light."

Across the table, the lioness busily welding bits of metal and part together flicks her ears, but pretends to be otherwise unperturbed by this news. "Yesz. Ve vwhould not vant to be here vhen zhose BUMBLING majeeshians arrive to blow eferything up. Ezz zhey tend to..."

"Aww, Tabitha! Lighten up some!" the burly grizzly nestled next to Tai snarled. He took a puff from the fat stogie hanging from one side of his jaw and raised a pint. He was similarly inured from the effects of alcohol, but only due to the relative potency of the other substances he took. It was hard to complain about his lack of sobriety, when his crack shots had saved them any number of times on the battlefield. "We pushed back the fookin' zealots! Southern Star nation can't advance 'cause of that little operation, we oughta be CELEBRATING! Hell, I got just the thing to loosen them tits..."

The lioness folded back her ears and flashed a look of cold indignance that could have frozen hell itself. The whole table fell quiet for a moment.
"Haah! You'd like that, wouldn't ya, you ol' perv!" Everyone looked at the tiny fennec who had just uncermoniously broken the tension. Shen knew full well that if he didn't intervene, his party was gonna be at each others' throats again. "Not that I can blame ya, everyone takes a peak. Half the time I mask my form, it's based off THIS broad."

While Tabitha feigned offense at the word 'broad', her golden cheeks nevertheless took on a certain blush. She quickly buried her nose in her work once more. "Huh. I didn't know you could read, Tai." Jabari tilted his head and scanned the stoic monk. "What does a farm boy care about world events!?"
Tai sipped at his sake, completely unphased by the underlying accusation of the jackal's tone.
"There is a saying in my country: One's paws are a reflection of one's mind. Only when it is open can one hold new things..."
"Goddamn, hoofer! When all this war's over, you oughta write us a BOOK of that shit!" Brutus roared and toasted to Tai's wisdom. The water buffallo lowered his head, pretending to be solemn and monastic. In truth, he just needed to de-escalate and let his presence fade into the shadows.
...Hard to carry out sabotage when this group kept drawing so much attention. Then there was the matter of the Olivian princess sitting across from him. Oh what a fine political piece to play into his hands.

"Yes. Vhisdom is something ve heff precious little of in zhe military. In zhe academiez..."
"How DARE you speak ill of your commanding officers, Tabitha! It's no wonder you were court-martialled!"
"Tell me, Keptain, vhy vhere you valking vith me to zhe gallows, again...?"
Jabari barked and launched into another of his tirades as the lioness casually tuned him out. Shen couldn't help but lean in and wink to her. He knew she did that only to keep the jackal out of her hair. The two of them could accomplish SO much together when they weren't bickering.

The fact he was alive today was a testament to the fact. Maybe things would be alright - even in this crazy, war-torn little crossways. As long as they stuck together!

From the shadows came a silent cackle. Wreathed in darkness, the red fox sways his paws, each finger intrinsically tied to the treads of fate. He would surely weave them their doom...

---

Woooow!
This piece was done by my friend, Avery, as a tribute to one of our party members leaving the campaign for family reasons. We got together one afternoon and threw him a big going-away party! I have no idea how she was able to churn out a picture this big and detailed in only a few days! O.O

While this scene never actually took place, it certainly does seem like something that might happen during our characters' downtime. We were a ragtag group of misfits who only narrowly escaped execution for a variety of traitorous things. We then struggled to sabotage and de-escalate a brewing conflict between the forces of the Shen Empire, a nation of foreign mystics to the north, and the newly christofascist Southern Star Nation. The two magical empires, to the east and west, either refused to help, or else pledged neutrality in a conflict set to tear the independent nation of the Alunis Crossways apart.

What was really cool about this campaign is that it actually took place in the future of our first campaign; Set in a fantasy Bloodborne-style gothic fantasy, our past characters defeated a cloistered and eldritch nation just on the verge of invading our world. War of the Crossroads then dealt with the outcomes of our decisions, as well as gave us a cool look into how our characters shaped the world after.

We began the campaign back in the midst of the pandemic, and I'll be honest - it was absolutely one of the things that got me through that hellish period. Coming together with friends to hang out, roll some dice, and tell a huge story was just enough social contact to keep me sane! I would imagine the other players might feel the same - although we've since moved on to a D&D campaign, our same adventuring group has now been together for a little over 2 years! XD

Art by  NaughtybyNature