The Spider God's Bride -

Game Master dain120475

Bjoern, I hope you don't mind Tairin sending you over to find out more about the yet unknown Anhur. It makes sense for her to send over her trusted, big burly bodyguard to "vet" the man. It's the smart thing to do. ;)

Response to Questions

1. The Stonecunning will stack; but only certain circumstances. So, basically, your Perception is already at a +2. However, if you were in a forest and there was a pit trap in front of you, you wouldn’t get to use Stonecunning to determine the pit trap. Also, it doesn’t have to deal with traps specifically – if you were walking down a hallway in some abandoned tomb and you passed an alcove that was actually a Secret Door you’d gain the bonus to notice something amiss. Of course, this would not apply to something like a Secret Door made of branches/leaves woven together to hide a cave behind it. But yeah – in this case I’m just going to rule that the Perception Bonus will stack because of the nature of how narrow that bonus is.

2. Regarding Mounts – it’s good to have a mount on longer journeys, but much of the first part of the adventure won’t really require a mount. Also, mounts have unusual issues that will be factored. So, for example; not only will you need to worry about water for your mount and grass for them to graze on, but if you enter someplace to search in the wild you’ll likely need to make some sort of provision for your mount – will it be just tied up in the wild while you explore, free to be attacked/robbed? Or will you have guards? Having a mount is definitely handy, yes; but you could always steal one in a pinch, though that has its own complications.

3. For now, I’ll the decision to have mounts up to you; but I don’t think you’ll formally need them. The guard is asking because it’s not uncommon for travelers to have mounts – especially well-dressed women that don’t seem to be used to living off the land, but yeah – definitely not a requirement.

Quick note on Terrain

So basically I tried to do from context is put together what I think the terrain of each nation would be like here –

Azimbam, Shoma = Sudan
Ikuna Lands, Mazania, = Congo
Zadj = Carthage/Tunsia
Yar-Ammon = Egypt
Jairan/Khazistan = Turkey/Mongolia
Lamu/Taraam = Russia
Tharag Tule = Ukraine

The city we start is Belthaar, located in Susrah
The Climate of Susrah is like Afghanistan, for the most part. Or like – This –.

In short, the temperature varies a lot; but Belthaar is located in lowlands and is fairly warm temperature-wise; but if you go into the mountains surrounding Susrah it will likely be much colder if you’re high up and at night. But for simplicity, as Belthaar has a much lower elevation than the way I’m playing the town is that it’s much like seeing a town in the movie Prince of Persia; except it gets colder at night.

Finally – and I can’t stress this enough – when you’re journeying in this world, as in real life, beware the dreaded Drop Bears ;)

I thought Drop Bears were a myth made up to scare civilized, gullible travelers.

The Stonecunning will stack; but only certain circumstances. So, basically, your Perception is already at a +2. However, if you were in a forest and there was a pit trap in front of you, you wouldn’t get to use Stonecunning to determine the pit trap. Also, it doesn’t have to deal with traps specifically – if you were walking down a hallway in some abandoned tomb and you passed an alcove that was actually a Secret Door you’d gain the bonus to notice something amiss. Of course, this would not apply to something like a Secret Door made of branches/leaves woven together to hide a cave behind it. But yeah – in this case I’m just going to rule that the Perception Bonus will stack because of the nature of how narrow that bonus is.

So to clarify, any stacked bonus from stonecunning only comes into play when we're in a cave or underground/above ground ruin? Somewhere where there is actual stone about - whether it's used to build a trap or secret doors built into a stone wall?

For now, I’ll the decision to have mounts up to you; but I don’t think you’ll formally need them.

Tairin does not have enough coin to outright buy a riding camel. I was thinking we'd paid for passage among one of the camel caravans (land transportation) ... It doesn't quote any such figure in the SRD that I can see although it does mention carriages and alike and quotes passage as 3cp with those. Can we use this value when paying for passage across the sands on camels?

I thought Drop Bears were a myth made up to scare civilized, gullible travelers.

That is what wikipedia says and I am sure they are used that way.

I recall reading that they originated as a myth among Australian soldiers fighting in Papua- New Guinea in WWII, and the soldiers took them quite seriously. Not sure myself.

The Drop Bears were also an excellent 1980's band.

Tairin does not have enough coin to outright buy a riding camel. I was thinking we'd paid for passage among one of the camel caravans (land transportation) ... It doesn't quote any such figure in the SRD that I can see although it does mention carriages and alike and quotes passage as 3cp with those. Can we use this value when paying for passage across the sands on camels?

Theoretically, yes. The amount of coin would be based on how much baggage is going to be carried on the camel. In your case, that shouldn't matter; but as a general rule it may be more expensive if you're carrying lots of stuff.

Also, you'd have to find someone with camels who would allow you to ride on them. Some may not share their camels, even for gold, if they are suspicious of you or have reason to dislike you. Again, in your case I'm not thinking that would be a problem; but it may be that the people with camels may not have enough to spare - but then again, they might... ;)

That said, I suppose we shall find out what happens next on the Campaign Thread, no doubt :)

That is what wikipedia says and I am sure they are used that way.

I don't know - I saw a pretty amazing documentary on them - here - ;)

Did this recruitment close already? I lost touch for a brief time, but I must have missed an end date on my initial perusal.

I believe it officially closes today.

Did this recruitment close already? I lost touch for a brief time, but I must have missed an end date on my initial perusal.

The adventure was scheduled to formally begin tonight, but as it stands I am going to allow to the end of the weekend for any possible extra submissions just to be sure; however the other players will be starting now.

Quick Aside: It's not always easy for me to determine tone or context with text-only communication, that said I'm going to take interaction with a grain of salt when I read posts, at least until I get a better sense of what's going on.

To clarify a point I made earlier; for the game to continue it needs interested players. Players don't remain interested/excited in playing in a game when they don't have fun playing together.

In short, while our Characters may butt heads from time to time, I don't want to see that with players. To be blunt; I'll drop players who can't work well with each other as teammates and allies (especially during OOC when it's supposed to be Players speaking to other Players, not Characters speaking to other Characters).

Also, despite my better judgment I allowed stats to start below 10 in this game, which I regret, though there will be consequences for them in game. However, those consequences are something I will work out as a GM; they shouldn't be something that happens between Players.

The opening posts were to determine how well the party is going to gel together and hopefully provide the means for everyone to be more coherent as a group.

Again, I'm going to take the posts I've seen with a grain of salt.

With that in mind - Anhur; these people are supposed to be your teammates in real life. If your Character has a slow start being friendly with other Characters, well, that could be interesting via development; but I would prefer not seeing comments in OOC between you and the other Players which make me think you're not seeing them as teammates and allies, especially when I'm trying to figure out how well you're going to get along as teammates. I hope I was misreading that and if there was any confusion that it has now been clarified and it won't happen again :)

That being the case, please keep the idea that even if we don't know each other in real life that this is the chance for us to meet new people and have fun potentially making new friends. Further, we're all here to have fun and, unfortunately, if we can't enjoy the company of the other Players then we won't have fun, we won't enjoy playing and the game will die.

That being the case, I hope everyone's eager to get started and that people have the chance to have a good time!

Just a quick FYI: Tomorrow is my great-niece's 1st birthday party and I'll be out pretty much all day. I will check the boards in my evening and make any relevant responses/posts then. Happy weekend, all! :)

Dain GM, would you consider allowing drawbacks in this game? So, if we pick up a drawback, we can get a third trait.

Looking for new players in a low-magic, Conan The Barbarian-esque, RPG world set in a world called "Xoth".

It's low magic and healing is limited; so Armor/shields can provide DR and the combat tends to be more bloody and brutal.

Looking for a ranged fighter (possibly Ranger) but open to other ideas.

Dotting, are you at second level? What wealth available?

Dotting, are you at second level? What wealth available?

Actually, we are now formally starting third.

As for wealth - that's a bit tricky as it is a very low magic world.

For now, the best strategy is to create the character and when it comes to wealth regarding MW or Magic Items we can work something out to improve/select things.

Meanwhile, if you look at the description of the campaign page you'll see links to the Campaign Book as well as descriptions for various races and adjustments via magic.

Glad to see you're interested :)

Wealth isn't a big issue, I will put together a Nomad either a bounty hunter or a Ranger, are most of the ranger archetypes allowed? If I go ranger I will probably drop 'ranger spells' and go with at least one archetype. So, does the party have any other needs?

I am looking at the races from this list now. Does this alter the 'race' selection from the "world of Zoth" website or add to it?

Hey Helicon!

Wealth isn't a big issue, I will put together a Nomad either a bounty hunter or a Ranger, are most of the ranger archetypes allowed? If I go ranger I will probably drop 'ranger spells' and go with at least one archetype. So, does the party have any other needs?

I am looking at the races from this list now. Does this alter the 'race' selection from the "world of Zoth" website or add to it?

Hey Helicon!

The races were copied/pasted from the direct page/book.

Now, to be fair, I'm not sure if I've seen the same "World of Zoth" website (I've seen several variations, I think); if you have a link to that I'll double check if it has the same stats, but I think it should be the same stuff only with more details.

If, however, there are new details and pages that don't come from the core books I'll likely have to veto it.

Archtypes for Rangers are permissible, but just let me know what you have in mind before making a hard choice if it seems too far removed from the core books. Generally mounted combat is not something that is done much; the party typically ends up going places that mounts cannot go, so while it may be good to be a great mounted fighter for a few, select scenarios, ultimately it will likely not be very useful in the long run.

Also, keep in mind that the game is meant to do a lot of Social RP as well as the sword and sorcery thing; further, there are often a lot of mysteries and subtle nuances that involve a lot of strategy and tactics.

Please keep that in mind not only with the build, but also with how you RP your character out as it could be critical to survival :)

The races were copied/pasted from the direct page/book.

Now, to be fair, I'm not sure if I've seen the same "World of Zoth" website (I've seen several variations, I think); if you have a link to that I'll double check if it has the same stats, but I think it should be the same stuff only with more details.

If, however, there are new details and pages that don't come from the core books I'll likely have to veto it.

Archtypes for Rangers are permissible, but just let me know what you have in mind before making a hard choice if it seems too far removed from the core books. Generally mounted combat is not something that is done much; the party typically ends up going places that mounts cannot go, so while it may be good to be a great mounted fighter for a few, select scenarios, ultimately it will likely not be very useful in the long run.

If I went ranger I was thinking Divine marksman or just Trapper if the group needed help with traps. would either of those be ok, or would you prefer skirmisher to Divine Marksman?

If I went 'nomadic' I would use the trait Blood steed for flavor and to be able to let the horse roam and only ride when I needed to. I wouldn't build around it. Interestingly, I like several nomadic cultures and 'Nomadic' was the Cultural Archetype that boosted dex. so I was going with it. I will look at the others you have listed and possibly select one of them.

Also, keep in mind that the game is meant to do a lot of Social RP as well as the sword and sorcery thing; further, there are often a lot of mysteries and subtle nuances that involve a lot of strategy and tactics.

Please keep that in mind not only with the build, but also with how you RP your character out as it could be critical to survival :)

Noted, I will resist the urge to 'dump' int. :-)

I will read through the rest of the recruitment thread to see what questions I have that may have been answered already and look at the game and characters, then continue with a possible build. I should have done that first, but I got overly excited to play in a 'Conan like world'

Dain GM, is the Ranger archetype Divine Marksman Ok? If so, I will make a civilized Susrahnite ranger, divine Marksman of Belet-Lil. If not, I will make a nomadic Khazistani ranger with the skirmisher archetype.

Belthaar appears to be a city in southern Susrah, so it should be easy to put either concept there. Either one could have fallen out of favor with their previous employer and need a job.

Would it be ok to work Mei-Mei Jiaohuá or Alia into the Susrahnite’s backstory? Either woman could have sent him to the team looking for work. He would have been a guard or acolyte at the ‘bath house’ and have been released due to an ‘indiscretion.’ (He would have fallen in love with a rich nobleman’s wife who was a regular ‘worshiper’ and was planning on running off with her. Strictly against the rules.)

Or, the Khazistani could be an old acquaintance of Samir who was a guard working for a merchant coming to Belthaar and the job is now over. So he finds Samir, hoping he could recommend an employer.

Just popping in to say this sounds super cool, and if I weren't on the brink of being over-extended with my games and submissions already, I'd jump at the chance! Keep up the good work!

Dain GM, is the Ranger archetype Divine Marksman Ok? If so, I will make a civilized Susrahnite ranger, divine Marksman of Belet-Lil. If not, I will make a nomadic Khazistani ranger with the skirmisher archetype.

Belthaar appears to be a city in southern Susrah, so it should be easy to put either concept there. Either one could have fallen out of favor with their previous employer and need a job.

Would it be ok to work Mei-Mei Jiaohuá or Alia into the Susrahnite’s backstory? Either woman could have sent him to the team looking for work. He would have been a guard or acolyte at the ‘bath house’ and have been released due to an ‘indiscretion.’ (He would have fallen in love with a rich nobleman’s wife who was a regular ‘worshiper’ and was planning on running off with her. Strictly against the rules.)

Or, the Khazistani could be an old acquaintance of Samir who was a guard working for a merchant coming to Belthaar and the job is now over. So he finds Samir, hoping he could recommend an employer.

Hmm... lots to think about.

Let me get back to you tonight after I get home from work, but it looks interesting so far :)

Just popping in to say this sounds super cool, and if I weren't on the brink of being over-extended with my games and submissions already, I'd jump at the chance! Keep up the good work!

Thank you! :)

This is RH's first idea: Ala'Ihys a Susrahnite Divine Marksman of Belet-Lil. Please look at the character page for the 'Crunch', I have started the 'fluff' here. I am working on the story of how he get's kicked out of the temple for attempting to convince Hajeda into running off with him. So More to follow :-)

This is RH's first idea: Ala'Ihys a Susrahnite Divine Marksman of Belet-Lil. Please look at the character page for the 'Crunch', I have started the 'fluff' here. I am working on the story of how he get's kicked out of the temple for attempting to convince Hajeda into running off with him. So More to follow :-)

** spoiler omitted **...

Very interesting stuff! Quick question, though; who is Hejeda?

I'll have more feedback in a bit; right now I'm in the middle of multi-tasking. I'll have to send you some details soon via PM on how you can meet with the others...

Still looking for more?

Still looking for more?

Sure! At this point my primary focus is on people who RP well and consistently. At this time, due to the lack of posting from some of my current players, I'm getting the vibe that some of my players are considering dropping so I may need some new players.

What are you interested in?

Civilized Nabastissean Cavalier (archetype Courtly Knight or Knight of the Wall, depending on DM approval).
Sort of a prince in exile, now when i say prince mean like the Saudi princes where there are a ton of people who have the title prince but there is only one crowned prince.
I'm thinking of sort of modeling him off of Eric Bana's portrayal of Hector in Troy.

Civilized Nabastissean Cavalier (archetype Courtly Knight or Knight of the Wall, depending on DM approval).

Sort of a prince in exile, now when i say prince mean like the Saudi princes where there are a ton of people who have the title prince but there is only one crowned prince.
I'm thinking of sort of modeling him off of Eric Bana's portrayal of Hector in Troy.

Seems interesting, though I would caution about using characters who are bound to beasts/animals. The game leads to a lot of places (such as cities and dungeons/caves) that having a horse is not practical and leaving it behind can be come complicated without a proper guard or escort for the horse.

Still, if you're resolved on it, I won't say no.

That said - I can only assume you mean Hector before he fought Achilles ;)

would I be coming in at 3rd level, and if so should I use that for starting money

would I be coming in at 3rd level, and if so should I use that for starting money

Yes.

But no magical gear and we'll have to confirm on what starting equipment you have.

Whatever you don't spend would be best converted into gems or jewels.

The typical coin of spending in this game is silver. Gold is more rare and valuable - and while it is used and traded, those people who have it openly and in abundance are generally noted and pursued by thieves.

Also, 50 coins of any variety weigh 1 lbs. (according to the book) so carrying 500 coins around would weigh more than a gallon of milk and be a bit more bulky.

Cool! Well, I'm eager to see what you have soon :)

Need to do more work on fluff, but the gist of it is he was part of the extended royal family in a moderate sized city state that was over thrown by a rival family with help of rival city states, he was able to escape and save his younger sister and two younger cousins and hide them with a retired Nabastissean soldier who in trusted in Susrah

Picture

** spoiler omitted **...

Sounds good.

Toss up a post on the Discussion Thread so that the others get a chance to know you better :)

Looking for New Players

We've lost some players recently and we're looking for a new player.

Hopefully someone skilled as either a Ranger-type; or possibly a Fighter/Acrobat-type.

This is the following information for the game:

Recruitment for The Spider-God’s Bride

This game is designed around the concept of a world similar to Robert E. Howard’s Conan: The Barbarian and other tales.

The only playable races are variations on human.

Magic is very rare; those who use it are often feared. Magical creatures are generally seen as deadly and horrible rather than commonplace.

The game uses the same rules as the d20 System, with some minor adjustments which are outlined in the Player’s Handbook for the system which can be found - HERE –.

The above link outlines the various classes allowable, as well as details on races and magic which are allowed.

Players can choose Classes and Archetypes from the Core Rules as well as Advanced Players Guide and Ultimate Combat Guide.

Players may also choose from the following additional Classes:

Bounty Hunter
Corbie
Gladiator
Scholar
Spy

Players start with 2 Traits, 20 Point Buy and Level 1 and Maximum HP on Level 1 plus their Con Modifier.

From level 2 up they gain Half their HD per Level (round up) plus Con Modifier. If you have 1d8 HP you’ll have 5; if you have 1d10 HP you’d end up with 6, and so on.

Players also gain a “0 Level Class” (this does not stack for purposes of Class Level Bonuses), nor does it increase the Player’s total Ranks in skills (in other words; when you build your Level 1 Character you cannot have more than 1 Rank in any Skill, despite what you picked on “Level 0”).

This grants Players 8 HP (Plus Con Modifier) as well as 4 Skill Points.
The skills can be chosen from any of the Untrained Skills.
Any skill chosen on “0 Level” is considered a Class Skill on that Level.
Finally, Armor and Shields grants minor Damage Reduction.
Light Armor = DR 1
Medium Armor = DR 2
Heavy Armor = DR 3
Light Shield = DR 1
Heavy Shield = DR 2
Tower Shield = DR 3
Combat will likely be bloody, but despite the combat, the game will rely on heavy RP so interested players should be prepared to make at least 1 post a day.
Let me know what you think!

Sounds cool!

Starting at 1st level?

Thinking of a going Rogue/Knife fighter and more than willing to cross class with Ranger

Hello. :) I’m one of the current players. The new character will enter the game on Level 4, since we just levelled.

Another current player here. :)

The campaign page has a bunch of information, though I highly recommend leafing through the player's guide on xoth.net, it's pretty evocative!

Appreciate the info! I'll delve into those right now

Love the world of Conan, was thinking of doing a range support, so Ranger Archer build.

Question: do the culture archetypes replace what a normal human gets or are they in addition to? Thanks.

Interesting. Color me curious. Oddly enough I'm running my own recruitment right now and during the course of vetting potential players I was pointed to this game as an example of an excellent campaign that one player highly enjoys playing in.

I have some questions before going into character creation though.

1) What's going on with the plot/story right now? What is the party trying to accomplish, what are their driving forces?

2) What roles do the party members fulfill? I know you said you're looking for some kind of ranger or acrobatic fighter type, but I would like to know more specifics about what the party can and can't do with their current characters.

3) As for the ranger class, is there any kind of restrictions on them? Obviously the normal magic restrictions apply to them once they gain spellcasting, but would you prefer rangers to take archetypes that avoid spellcasting altogether? Does their animal companion function as normal? Is favored enemy changed at all since in an mostly-human setting choosing humans as a favored enemy may be overpowered?

I'll keep brainstorming in the meantime, but I want to make sure I understand what's going on the campaign so I can get some inspiration for a character that would be interesting to play in the specific setting. Thanks!

Leaving for the day, won't have a chance to finish build until Monday. How long were you planning on recruiting? Thank you.

1. We are ordered to guard a noble man´s house. We just arrived from another city, where we "found" some tombs we helped to "clean".
2. We have a tank, a social beast, a witch and a scholar.
3. I think no restrictions apart from no spells. It should be some savage, primal touch, nothing to fancy.

Thanks Bjoern!

So if the party was ordered to do something, does that mean they work for a government? Are they essentially soldiers?

More that we were hired, and then requested. ;)

The party has absorbed passer-bys for a while now.

So are they loyal to the government than?

I'm just trying to understand the motivations of the characters. Money? Loyalty? Fame? Glory? Protecting the weak?

All of the current characters have left their respective homelands, with varying degrees of willingness. Not beholden to anyone but their consciences and current employer (whom we do not trust).

Motivations vary from character to character. Although there's quite a bit of in-group loyalty. If I had to put a label on it, I would say enlightened self-interest with a touch more altruism.

There's been a great deal of travel in the campaign thus far, and we've crossed borders.

A map of the campaign world

We just arrived in Zul-Bazzir, a major city.

There's no government affiliation in this game or any particular loyalty to a crown/monarch/ruler. There is political intrigue, however, in the background of the plot line; nation versus nation and the party can get caught in the fray or are on the borders of a war between nations.

Characters have their own reasons for joining the party - to escape something or to find it. They show a certain loyalty to one another even as they work on their own agendas. This is partly in order to survive the plots/machinations working all around them and that they are attempting to solve/resolve.

There's quite a bit of mystery solving in this game - we need to work through the clues we discover as we move about the world of Xoth. The first two levels we dealt with the intrigues of Susrah and now we are in Khazistan, playing mercenary guards to a wealthy noble who appears to be more of a cult priest (of the Cult of Yot-Kamoth, the Spider-God of Lamu) in charge of a strange young woman whom we believe is a would-be virgin sacrifice. We are hoping to spare her life/save her, if this proves to be the case. There is no divine magic in this world - only arcane magic one can harness through trinkets/magical objects, places of power for example.

The party is made up of a Savage Tharagian Gladiator (Bjoern), Enlightened Yar-Ammonite Scholar (Patenemheb), Civilised Yar-Ammonite Bouda Witch (Red/She Who Knows) and a Decadent Yar-Ammonite Temptress Bard/Spy (Tairin) (Yar-Ammon is fully represented, so it would be good to see another nation represented lol). We also have two semi-permanent NPCs who travel and aid us presently in the form of Samir and Farrokh. We unfortunately lost our Druid and then our Ranger, so we are in need of a survival/wilderness specialist as tracking can play a vital part in this adventure. Also, we lost our ranged fighter when our ranger left (our ranger was a two weapon fighter), so it would be good to have someone replace that in the current party.

We'te looking for someone to round out the party (fighting, diplomacy/bargaining, trapfinding & disabling, hexing, healing, knowledge experts are well covered at this stage.) A ranged fighter who can track and help the group survive treks across great, hot deserts or manoeuvre their way through city back streets and underground temples would certainly be an asset. It would be good to have a backup to our front-line fighter - Bjoern.

There are mysteries to be solved and so roleplay is important/crucial and highly promoted by the GM in this game. If someone really isn't into rp, then this game probably isn't for them.

Certain spells are restricted or prohibited - they can be discussed with the GM and he can advise which ones will function in the scope of this world/game.

@Ashe: The character gets all the Xoth cultural and racial archetype (Savage, Nomadic, Civilized, Enlightened, Decadent, Degenerate) bonuses. In addition, we only get the normal Pathfinder Human bonus feat at first level and we gain an additional skill rank per level (as per 'skilled' racial trait from Pathfinder).

======

The Player's Guide to Xoth is on the Campaign Tab of the game as well as relevant information we collated/summarised to make it easier. The new characters will start the game at Level 4, as mentioned earlier. The Xoth rules are not all that hard but they are different; and combat can be deadly as there are no healing spells or wands to revive/bring back characters from death. It's good old fashioned triage and short/long term caring via the healing skill and bed rest/sleep.

Thanks you two! That definitely gives me all the information I was needing to hit the drawing board. One last question: What kind of animal companions would be appropriate for this setting?

I'm rather busy this weekend but I should at least be able to find some time to brainstorm ideas. I likely won't have anything tangible until Monday. Any idea how long recruitment will be open for?

I suggest looking into the player's guide to World of Xoth, loads of info there.

As for recruitment length, that is up to GM Dain but I suspect that you'd be fine over the weekend.

One last question: What kind of animal companions would be appropriate for this setting?

I would say choose an animal that comes from the region/race your character hails from. We do spend time in major cities, so the animal companion should be appropriate in whatever setting the PCs find themselves in (otherwise the animal companion will have to be housed/stabled elsewhere if it is too large or not accepted by the city folk we encounter). Also, it may need to survive in regions it is unaccustomed to, like wandering a blistering hot desert.

I believe for Xoth, they generally lean toward snakes, apes/monkeys, bats, rats, lizards, giant beetle, giant weasel, cats, hyena, giant scorpion, vulture (and possibly other birds of prey - just run it by the GM for his approval), camel or horse (all stats used from Pathfinder's animal companions).

Tairin currently has a kitten with her (cats are rather revered in Yar-Ammon). We recently discovered the tiny creature in Yirlat Oasis on the road leading to Zul-Bazzir in Khazistan and its attached itself to the temptress spy. ;)

As to when recruitment will close, the GM has not given a date/time frame - possibly when we get enough applications for the open position and decide which fits best. I think you'll be fine to get something more tangible down by Monday. I'm sure once the GM's done with work, he'll post more on this thread. :)