So, I'm running this for a group, and the players just left Rickety's Squibs, but they've managed to pick up an... ally of sorts that was quite unexpected - Selissa the water naga.
During the attack, the party oracle hit her with an Admonishing Ray (his only real damaging spell) for a pile of nonlethal damage... so at the end of the fight, she was quite unconscious but in no danger of actually dying. The summoner rolled really high on her knowledge check to know about water nagas, so the party determined that she was intelligent and not fully grown, and also that water nagas generally aren't evil.
So they hauled her up out of the water, carried her over to a small shed, restrained her, then healed her to she was conscious again and started talking. In the ensuing conversation, both the Captain (a sea singer bard) and the oracle pulled off back to back 30+ diplomacy rolls.
So now they've managed to get Selissa on board their ship, at least temporarily, with the promise of helping her find a new nesting ground. When I gave them the feeder for Tidewater Rock, they immediately latched onto the protected harbor there as a possibility. And the first mate is debating the possibility of snagging the Leadership feat and taking her as his cohort.
So my questions here would be:
1) What effects will Selissa's presence have on upcoming events? I'm expecting that she will not participate in boarding actions or raids that the party executes, but she will defend herself and her home, so if they get her moved into the harbor at Tidewater Rock, then she'd probably help defend against the attack later in the module. Any other notable affects that her presence would have?
2) As far as the Leadership/cohort thing goes... my gut instinct is to put her (young) as level 9 equivalent, so available when the party hits 11. Then have her grow up to her adult stats when the party is around 14? And possibly advance from there. I admit, those are complete guesses, though, so if others have a better handle on where those breakpoints should fall, I'd appreciate the advice.
Unfortunately Tidewater isn't really featured in the AP past those two attacks by Sahuagin and Isabella. I think that Sarliss would be a good ally to bring along in the finale when the party goes into the underwater caves at man-catcher cove. Heck that could even become her new nesting ground once its de-Sahuagined.
The Settlers on Tidewater could become uneasy with her presence, she's got no problems attacking humans if they bother her after all.
Later on in book 3 two more water nagas (fully grown) come up that its in the party's best interest to not kill so she could act as an intermediary there.
Testing my memory here but there's also some sort of creature in a grotto in book 4 on the PC's island that she could aid in interacting with.
Far as Leadership goes I wouldn't recommend her as a cohort, but if the party is deadset on it I would mark her "level" as CR-1. So right with the young template the earliest that the party could get her would be level 8, level 9 once she's fully grown. Remember max cohort level is also limited by leadership score as well as character level. There's a chart in the feat's text that explains it all.
Using the Leadership feat to gain her as a Cohort would require her to participate. Otherwise, she does not advance as a cohort. This means an additional body with the party, with its own set of actions. Thus more to keep track of.
My party has 5 in it (with two that have dropped out), along with 2 cohorts, and a necromancer's armada. There are also 2 familiars that rarely act (i.e. they keep their heads down so as not to get targeted). The Wizard and his cohort like to summon stuff. This means that there is usually quite a lot happening each round. With the encounters expanded for our party size, that means more for the GM.
In a recent ship battle, my character was not there, but the cohort was. And it was my ship. [Fortunately stated out and crewed out.] I had at least a dozen entries to keep track of, while the GM had a similar amount. Then most of the party caught up, and even more bodies on the field. Must have had well over 20 independent actors at one point. It got so confusing, I forgot to have a cleric cast Bless. At least my cohort earned his XP that day. :-)
/cevah
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I've always been leery of cohorts. I think they can make things more interesting, but they normally end up bogging things down, especially in combat. I recommend against monster cohorts on general principle. It's not typically something a monster would do, and it creates all kinds of problems that can eat up table time.
That being said, I think your estimation of appropriate levels for using Selissa as a cohort are what I would use if I had to.
Parking her at Tidewater Rock seems like it would prove to be a disappointment, especially for the PC who took the Leadership feat.
As Cevah said, she won't gain xp if she doesn't participate, and there's nothing that really goes on there after the two conflicts in book 2.
Sure, she can guard the lagoon, but then she becomes an abstraction (and therefore boring IMO).
My suggestion is to write Selissa's background story to somehow tie in with Sarlis and the Nagas you encounter in the middle of Tempest Rising. Since she's friendly, she might tell the PCs about the naga colony on the Slithering Coast.
Being accompanied by Selissa might help persuade Sarlis to assist the PCs in finding their spy. Maybe Selissa is even a young member of Sarlis' tribe? Reuniting them could result in some sort of valuable reward for the PCs. Or, maybe it's as simple as Selissa and Munarei fall in love and run off together to start a new naga life somewhere else, solving Sarlis' problem.
If you're so inclined, you could even write up a side quest for the PCs to help Selissa and Sarlis address whatever it is that is causing the drought in the jungle. I imagined that it's probably a Blight Druid up to no good.
Again, a great opportunity for the group to earn some sort of substantial reward.