[D&D 3.5/E6] Children of the Wheat: Hivemind spell selection

[Toy Killer]

I'm building a town that fell victim to a plague that kills adults and leaves children infected with a Hivemind with each other.

Unbeknownst to my players, a child NPC with them is a bit of a pint-sized MacGuffin (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MacGuffinGirl) named Valie. When they come upon this town, it's going to be up and running, however, only children are providing all the towns needs. The players are going to definitively get that something is amiss (More so then just the kids) when the kids know things they haven't had a chance to talk about between one another (I.E. telling the 'innkeeper' that they are trying to get to Coventry, when talking to the shop owner, He already knows their going to Coventry).

Later they will be approached by the Sisters Wolverton (An 'off' set of triplets), asking if they can take care of Valie. They will speak in unison and have that alien stillness to them. The players will find out later that their is a cleric of Karnyes (A plague and suffering devil lord) controlling the hive 'Behind the curtain' as it were. His death will release the kids.

The Hivemind will consist of 1,200 kids (The kids have gone and sought out other survivors, and 'adopted' them), but only around 800 or so are actually in town. The Hivemind will include receive an intelligence and charisma of 25, meaning a caster level of 8.

I want them to be dangerous, but not 'Lethal'. Maybe predominately BFC and a couple illusion style spells. Their primary job is staying alive (Campaign stuff, children can't go to hell, unless the plane descends deep enough away from heaven) and to find more children survivors to increase their own power. They will be lawful evil.

Furthermore, I want to stay away from enchantment (as I don't want the ambiguity as to which devil lord is behind this town) and *Sigh* Conjuration (Unless it's cloudkill/wall of ____ stuff, no summoning though) as much as possible.

Clerics of Karynes are skittish to say the least, they follow a raven motif, and the cleric himself is likely going to be a Raptoran in a bell tower for a nice flight fight.

[GreatWyrmGold]

CL 8 as what class?

Buffs are good, maybe add healing and a couple damaging spells. Have the children mob their enemies. Pretty effective, and not as bad as it sounds if you use the Mob template in the DMGII.

[Toy Killer]

Oh, my apologies, CL8 as a sorcerer.

The initial thought for the encounter was a 'pied piper' of sorts who would have a mob of enthralled children, but I decided, thematically, that it didn't have the 'Hellish' feel to it. I mean, killing kids is wrong and all, but that didn't make it feel like a devil thing to do, it felt more demonic. So I remember the thread a bit ago about the Hivemind and realized it didn't have any inhibitors as to who or what qualified for the Hivemind, as long as they were in mass numbers.

I thought about having half-flesh golem pets around the town (Cats and dogs and such) to make it a bit more disturbing as to what the kids were capable of, and to give the players something more innocuous to kill rather then children under mind control, but I still want the kids to be something wicked.

It's tough, I'm not really sure how to make them 'scary' without making them targets.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not sure how Buffing works on Mobs. Does the entire mob gain the buff? If not (and considering that the template itself says that spells that normally couldn't be cast on swarms can be cast on specific members of the mob, [even if it's referencing offensive spells, specifically] it makes it seem simultaneously that is should [as that you can cast spells that target an individual], yet shouldn't [you can cast offensive spells on individuals])