Advice for Sinkholes of Evil

[Atma]

I'm working on a rank 5 sinkhole of evil that is the temple of a demon cult. The cult originally focused on a sea monster-like demon lord, and, when the temple was brought into Ravenloft, all of the cultists and priests perished in the cataclysmic process. However, because of the nature of the domain that the temple is now located in, their spirits now persist as spectres, wraiths and other bodiless undead. The cultists aren't aware that they're (un)dead mostly because their insane devotion is so great they don't really care about what state they are in beyond finding opportunities to prove themselves to their master. In fact, their devotion is so great that should one of the undead cultists leave the temple grounds, it then fades away into nothing and either becomes dead-dead, or is ritually revived by the other cultists.

I guess what I'm getting at is, what sort of powers or features a rank 5 sinkhole of evil themed around obsession have?

[Five]

I would say a slowing or stillness of time (non-existent/perpetual), a cloudiness/fogginess (visually, physically, and emotionally), a general and pervasive feeling of deja-vu; visitors going from one room to the same room in a weird labyrinthine way (ie: DM describing word-for-word the same room/scene twice in a row), anything that generally captures the moment/feeling of NOW. Given time PCs should start taking morale-based hits (depending on the ruleset): fatigue/no rest (long/short/spell recovery etc), disadvantage/penalties to initiative/spot/search/listen, combat, etc. Re-living/witnessing/etc the same events and what have you over and over (obsession) should give the PCs a sort of claustrophobic feeling that just saps them. Picture driving really fast in a tunnel. No other vehicles. Lights flashing by in regular intervals. Drive that for half an hour (or, next time you're a passenger, stare at the lines in the road the whole trip). Multiply that for as long as your PCs are in the temple. Now convert that drone to game fluff and you should come up with some pretty queer stuff.

Got nothing eerie or creepy right now so for that I apologise. I'll think some more. You scratched my brain heh

To help us help you, what is the obsession based around? Anything in particular? The cataclysm? An incomplete ritual?

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I really like those temporal effects.

In the Border Ethereal, resonance could take the form of bloodshot, insanely focused eyes watching everyone.
More in the vein of the time theme, a common staple of ethereal resonance is shades of past horrific events. There could be several repeating replays of happenings that were particularly important to the cult.

A rank 5 sinkhole can possibly develop a phantasmagorum. Are you considering having a phantasmagorum in the temple?

[brilliantlight]

I like the temporal effects as well. Maybe , like Forlorn, it has time jumps. Maybe in once scene the temple is being built, in the next room it has jumped 20 years and you have a scene of sentient sacrifice while the priest is praising the evil demon, the next room show the cataclysm, then back to the temple being built again. They don't even have to be in such a straight progression. Maybe it jumps from being built to the cataclysm, to the cult being built up and then somewhere else in time. The one thing that should remain constant is that it is always the same cultists. They may be of different "ages" but the same people .

[Five]

I forgot about this thread. I even laid out a plan to dive in...

My plan was to listen to the link below for it's entirety in a blacked-out room, eyes closed, and recording verbally what I "see", and then posting them here for spits and giggles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAbzHUgYtcQ

It's not the creepiest music but it's drone should be enough (I'm hoping) to get me into a sort of in-character trance. At least, enough for me to do a spirit tour of the place (that I know nothing about!)...