“Yes, if there’s nothing more to do here let’s keep going.”

"Agreed, the winds in here are beginning to wear on me. The less time we spend in this blasted place, the better."

Vishnu will follow them wherever they're going, staying quiet.

Stealth: 14

 A bit worse for wear, the rrakkma unanimously agrees that pushing forward is in their best interest. As the wind dies down, they enter the westward corridor. As usual, Vishnu brings up the rear while trying to stay within the shadows created by the others' lights.

-> Assumed marching order: Shai, Kandalou, Ven, Kalak, Quadere, Vishnu. 

As Shai informed them,  the next chamber is not very far at all. The corridor opens up into a twenty-five feet wide by forty-feet long room. The ground here consists of sand mixed with crumbly pumice, and their grains and pieces dance in the wind. By the northern wall, there is a large vat of bubbling wax that is kept constantly hot by a flame beneath it. Kalak, Quadere, and Ven immediately recognize (passive arcana) the flame as being magical, though this version of the spell is somehow able to produce heat.

Long strips of ragged and aged cloth hang from a pair of steel bars over the vat, where they are tied on to keep them from blowing away in the wind. A sizable collection of pumice stones, some of them covered with dried brown flecks, rest within large metal bowls next to the porcelain vat.

EXPLORED AREA:

Quadere moves over to the vat to inspect closer. She looks for runes, symbols, anything that might provide a clue as to the purpose of this. She does an actual investigation, then compares what she finds against her arcane and religious studies. 

Investigation 11
Arcana 16
Religion 16

Kalak will conjure an ethereal hand to take down one of the scraps of cloth, dips it into the vat and analyzes the wax for any magical properties.

Arcana: 9

Vishnu will start her ghostly hand poking around the bowls and cloth as well, just seeing if anything reacts.

Ven does not see anything that would help in the hunt.
"If there is nothing here, I'd say we move. Let's not waste time."

He will then continue slowly in the corridor and try to track down the illithids.
Stealth: 21
Survival (for tracking?): 18

If the group is moving on, Vishnu will cease poking the cloth.

Kandalou trudges along with the group, head still sore from the mind attack he suffered. Upon seeing the vat he will carefully approach it and inspect it (Investigation: 26), relaying his findings to the group. He will quietly continue down whatever path the group chooses, his eyes darting all over the place constantly looking for danger. (Perception: 15)

@Quadere: You seem a bit worried about the potential of another surprise attack as you approach the vat of wax. You take a quick look around but find no runes or markings that make you believe that any magic is at play here. In fact, you are certain of it. You plan to continue analyzing the vat a bit longer, looking for any religions or mundane hints as to its use, but the worry in the back of your head becomes overwhelming. For the next few seconds, you focus on looking over your shoulder instead.

@Kalak: You produce your mage hand and command it to grab some of the pieces of hanging cloth. Dipping the cloth into the wax and bringing it closer to your face, you try to sniff any magic in it but fail to come up with anything in particular. It really just looks like regular slow-drying wax.

@Vishnu: Your ghostly hand occupies itself by poking around the metal bowls and cloths. They clanks, flutter, and generally react as you'd expect. They do not seem extraordinary.

@Kandalou: (d4 penalties to your ability checks: 3, 1). You also approach the vat and take a look. Despite your headache, you seem to be the first one to notice some of its smaller details. The vat is constructed of porcelain and inlaid with silver tracery around the edges. Also, you are familiar with the types of brownish flecks covering the pumice stones in the metal bowls next to the vat of wax. They are undoubtedly old, dried blood spots. You take a moment to put it all together and conclude that this is most likely a type of purification chamber. Whoever visited this place likely used the wax and cloth strips to remove all hair from their bodies before scrubbing themselves vigorously with the pumice stones. Given the blood spots it is viable that sometimes they scrubbed themselves to the point of bleeding. Then, like your cleric companion, you also make sure to look over your shoulder for signs of danger, but find nothing.

@Ven: You see your friends poking about and feel they could use a reminder that time is not on the rrakkma's side. You move towards the west wall slowly, but all the rummaging the party is doing is likely not to help your stealthy plans. Moreover, the sand floating up and down make it hard to notice any tracks on the ground, as they probably wouldn't last long. And there's the fact that illithids float too, like the sand grains, so they wouldn't leave obvious tracks like footprints. Nonetheless, the path forward is clear. There is only one path out of this chamber (apart from the one you used to get here.)

The group then moves on, stepping into the passage Ven has been looking into. The path goes west for about 35 feet, before ending in a "T" intersection. The path splitting northward leads to a roughly oval-shaped chamber. The path leading south forks into two more paths. The first continues southward, the second leads westward again. Both of these paths leading away from the oval chamber continue past the group's light range.

(OOC: Let me know if this last paragraph isn't clear. There are essentially three paths to choose from once out of the room with the wax vat. North, south-then-west, or south-then-further-south.)

Nodding in agreement when Ven suggests the group needs to keep moving, Shai will fall in with the group as they head out of the room.  When faced with the choice of direction, she pipes up "Maybe a quick look at the room to the north and then move on....these rooms don't seem to be where we can expect to find our prey, but best not leave anything dangerous behind us" and unless anyone objects Shai will begin heading North looking for anything of interest in the room whilst trying to blend into the surroundings, crossbow readied for any threat that presents (if something approaches or appears and advances on Shai with intent then she will call out in warning to stop and if there is no reaction she will shoot)

Stealth 23

Perception 20

Vishnu shrugs.

"Works for me."

She'll stay in her usual spot, still moving as quietly as she can manage.

Stealth: 20

(Ability checks are at disadvantage from exhaustion, correct?)

Quadere nods at the logic of moving on, especially since she sees nothing of interest to help their quest. She takes her spot back in the marching order and after stifling a yawn, follows the others.

Kandalou will take his spot back in the marching order and walk with the group to wherever the majority decides!

Kalak tosses the waxy cloth aside and futilely rubs his head, trying to rid himself of the fog of tiredness in his mind. Regaining his composure, he moves back into the formation of the Rrakkma.

(OOC: It is a bit too late to re-roll Quadere's ability checks to account for disadvantage at this point, so we'll just move on. Sorry about that.)

Though moving slowly and cautiously, Shai takes the lead again and brings the rest of the groups with her out of the room. Each of the rrakkma's members take their place in the marching order, with Vishnu being the last to leave the room, also in a cautious manner.

Shai then indicates that it might be a good idea to check out the room to the north of the bifurcation. The group agrees and the monk makes sure to take a good look in, before entering the oval-chamber. This oddly circular chamber is forty feet in diameter one way and fifty feet in diameter the other. Statues carved from a pure white marble and struck through with veins of a strange blood-red stone, stand at the perimeter of this chamber. These perimeter statues, six in all, appear to resemble naked humans in various states of torture, and are about 20 feet in height.

A seventh, massive humanoid statue stands in the center of the chamber. It is also carved from the strange marble, and its arms are held high above its head to support the ceiling, 40 feet above. A pair of fist-sized black crystals is fitted to the statue’s eyes.

The only other exit is to the west.

EXPLORED AREA:

As soon as the Shai sees the statues he turns to the others "Call me paranoid....but that just looks like a trap waiting to be sprung.  If we are going to go through, either we do it at speed or we take a good look around for anything that could trigger a trap like trip wires or pressure plates" looking to Vishnu as she finishes. "Alternatively, we can go have a quick look at the other direction to see what that way offers...although I am guessing this looks like a path of passage that would make sense after the purification room"

Ven nods at Shai's idea. "In that case why don't we continue past those statues. If we don't find any mind flayers, we'll turn back towards the other corridors."

Quadere nods in agreement. “Nothing about this room seems right. We also cannot waste time investigating every odd thing we find in Pandemonium. Let us move along quickly.”