Can the spell "Final Sacrifice" be used on the homunculus from the spell "Shadow Spy?"

Question

Context I am playing a 4th-level Tangible Dream (Emotional Acceptance) Psychic, preparing for the 5th level.

Weighing my options, Shadow Spy + Final Sacrifice could really put an immediate end to a combat encounter with a group at around round 2 or 3 granted we get a few hits in prior. Not to mention, Shadow Spy alone is incredibly useful for RP purposes.

Questions

Since the homunculus from the spell "Shadow Spy" is a summoned creature, it had the minion trait right? (Core Rulebook pg. 637 4.0) Does that mean I can indefinitely use "Final Sacrifice" on it?

Can I Command the homunculus at all, outside of the spell description? (given the rules for creatures with the minion trait, although it could be argued that the spell 'otherwise specifies.')

...for a minion that's a spell or magic item effect, like a summoned minion, you Sustain a Spell or Sustain an Activation; if not otherwise specified, you issue a verbal command as a single action with the auditory and concentrate traits. Core Rulebook pg. 634 4.0

You then command the bird to fly to a location within range and observe all around it. The bird has the statistics of a homunculus, save that it has all of your senses and shares your Perception modifier. Once the spell's duration elapses or upon a trigger you set (which must be fairly simple—“at dusk” or “when the judge leaves”), the bird flies to your location. Dark Archive pg. 107

Can I perch the homunculus on my shoulder instead of sending it off? Like the result of a trigger be specified to not have it return but instead do something else fairly simple? I.e. fly forward when given a certain command during combat... I'm wondering if the wording of the spell prohibits that.

Answer 1

You can't sacrifice the bird

The target of Final Sacrifice is:

1 creature with the minion trait that you summoned or permanently control

Unfortunately, the bird isn't a minion. Shadow Spy's third sentence tells us exactly what the bird is:

You mix blood, soil, and shadow together to form a half-real homunculus in the shape of a crow, sparrow, or other bird. You then command the bird to fly to a location within range and observe all around it. The bird has the statistics of a homunculus, save that it has all of your senses and shares your Perception modifier. Once the spell's duration elapses or upon a trigger you set (which must be fairly simple—“at dusk” or “when the judge leaves”), the bird flies to your location. If you wring its neck and drink its blood, you learn all that it saw since its creation.

The humunculus' statistics do not include the minion trait and Shadow Spy doesn't grant the bird the minion trait either, hence the bird doesn't have that trait and can't be the target of Final Sacrifice.

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By comparison, a spell like Animate Dead explicitly grants the summoned trait:

Your magic dredges up a corpse or skeleton and fills it with necromantic life, and you force the dead to fight at your command. You summon a common creature that has the undead trait and whose level is –1; this creature gains the summoned trait. Heightening the spell increases the maximum level of creature you can summon.

And the summoned trait in turn grants the minion trait:

A creature called by a spell or effect gains the summoned trait. A summoned creature can't summon other creatures, create things of value, or cast spells that require a cost. It has the minion trait. [...]

You can't command the bird further

As the bird is not your minion, it behaves according to the spell's description and not according to any other commands you may have for it: it flies off to a location of your chosing, spies, and then flies back to your location.
The location you choose can be your own, in which case the bird could perch on your shoulder, but you are not the target, so the bird won't follow you if you leave that location.
If you choose a trigger that you can control (like "when I raise my arm") then you can, in practice, decide when the bird flies back.
Once the bird flies back, there's no indication of how long it exists for if you don't wring it, so at this point (GM willing) you could perch it on your shoulder, but it won't do anything.