@Ludste, have you considered the Bluz? It supports up to 8 devices and uses a Photon as a gateway. Using an Electron instead is would be trivial though may require some thinking on data usage.
A “chain” of photons may require more than one Photon acting as an access point due to the limited number of concurrent open sockets available. You would need an access point (not internet connected) to create a local network over which the Photons can communicate using TCP or UDP.