>>5255206I vote for a big dog, or dogs, it can be trained to sniff out poisons and track people. Maybe even find out who has been having secret meetings in an empty room. Eagles don't have a sense of smell, so I doubt the bird head of a griffin can.
Spend time to train the dog to not accept food and drink from anyone but you to prevent poisoning, hire a trainer with a thick high collar gambeson and have it aim for the throat or arms on command to have lethal and less-than-lethal options, stay quiet when commanded to for sneaky beaky times, accept orders from you only when you speak a certain uncommon language, and protection training of course.
Spend some dosh on some corrosion resistant tight-fitting riveted mail in a lightweight fantasy metal for them to keep the noise down and protect against even stabbing attacks.
