I'm fine with giving this a go still. Even if you've never done play-by-post before, IRL experience will map onto it well enough. And if it does fizzle out before the end, that's actually a pretty common occurrence here.

In terms of backstory, my guy is obviously gonna be some kind of assassin. Though whether he'll be a secular contract killer or a death bringer of the old gods is something I haven't decided just yet.

As for connections, meeting each other as caravan guards has my vote.

My guy will still be going for the Pentakill and I don't mind being open about it in the OOC chatter. If you'd rather we be secretive about it though, I'm up for that as well.

I'm happy to drop the sidekick if you think it needs to be done. But I would like to point out that we have three players and you said this game is designed with at least four in mind. If we don't manage to get that fourth player, might I be able to convince you to reinstate the sidekick?