For one night only... circus one shot help needed

[Hidden one]

Good evening everyone

I will be running a ones shot in the new year for 7 people (potentially more) but I need some help for it, as I kinda want them to be mid level 8-10 maybe.

But the theme is a nightmare circus, the players visit and is all fun and games until all hell (literally) breaks lose, madness, strange things and all manner of scary stuff.

But I am in need of something:

The ringmaster I have no clue what to stat him as, I was more leaning for him to be a powerful magic user but what do you people think?

[VoodistMonk]

Search the site for Nightmare Lord Bogeyman... I have him stat'ed out on here somewhere. He is worth a gander.

[Meirril]

Make the Ringmaster a mostly normal 9th level Wizard. Have him control a Flesh Golem made up as a horror clown. The flesh golem has a permanent Shield Other with the Ringmaster. Give the Ringmaster a wand of Dimension Door and a wand of Lightning Bolt that he uses to buff/heal the golem.

Give the Ringmaster some buffs that are fay beyond his level and also long duration. Mindblank would be a good starting buff. Nothing offensive, but some defensive buffs that a 10th level wizard couldn't cast would be appropriate.

Also have the Ringmaster prioritize keeping the flesh golem 'alive' rather than killing PCs or even his own survival. If things seem to be going well, the Ringmaster is perfectly happy to just comment on the battle, or cast a haste on his allies. The Ringmaster seems really into spectating and commenting on the battle.

When the Ringmaster is killed...his body loses all color and rapidly begins to melt. The Ringmaster is a simulacrum! If the Flesh golem is still functional it moves away from the party and observes the end of the fight. If attacked, it acts defensively (+4 to AC) and at the end of the round it teleport away (unless destroyed).

Secretly: Our Ringmaster is actually an 18th level Wizard who set this up to amuse himself/pay off an Outsider he owes favors to. Rather than waste the Flesh Golem, he attempts to summon his construct once it has fulfilled its duties. He has less attachment to the Simulacrum.

[LordKailas]

What are the ring master's motivations? Is everything going bad on purpose or is it "accidental"? That is, the ring master was trying to do X and the fact that nightmare creatures are popping up everywhere is just a side effect of their unsuccessful or even successful attempt to do something else.

If it's accidental any arcane caster could work. Since it's a circus my initial thought is a bard or wizard that specializes in bindings. Perhaps all of the "attractions" are actually bound evil outsiders and something about the ring master's ritual tonight has broken all of those previous bindings. Unfortunately, the ring master has also been driven insane and/or controlled. As a result they lash out violently at people who harm their "pets" and/or "friends".

On the other hand maybe whole thing is a setup. The ring master is a powerful evil outsider (eg. a Horned Devil) and this is their method of collecting souls. Draw lots of people in, "lock the doors" and then "play".

One of the nice things about the 2nd scenario is that you can grab an appropriate CR outsider without having to worry about giving them levels in anything.