Wanderers of Weyard

Gusty exitedly points... somewhere in the general direction of where they were headed.
"We're heading for Air's Rock! The cartographer's guild asked us to find some kind of magical rock thingy there. Apparently it'll help them make maps or something."
"..."
"You were an offering? Why? Do you taste good?"

"We're supposed to place a tablet there as part of a permanent mapping project."
Silver frowns.
"Wait! offering? you look like a zebra."

"Yeah... And Goddess of Winter? That sounds like an odd title." Icy comments and tries to recall if she's heard anything like that.

history check:

You recall that central Gondowan, the primary habitat of the zebras, has a culture very much steeped in tradition. Though containing many skilled earth adepts, and with technology improving rapidly, they are rather notably superstitious. In particular, they often look beyond djinn for superior embodiments of the elements, and have a history of attempting to affect the environment through sacrifice to the right being... Since the return of magic, they've been attempting to affect the environment DIRECTLY far more often, and haven't done sapient sacrifice for a long time! ...But you suppose if an alicorn with every personality trait they remembered from their darker gods were to show up and freeze a thing or two; they might pick the odd mare out to be sent off as a sacrifice (regardless of whether or not any harm was actually intended.)

"Mmmm... That sounds like quite a horrible thing that some Zebras have started to do sacrifices... Regardless of the reason..." Icy said with shock to that comment.

"What do you mean shut down?" Dancing asks, sitting down next to the zebra.

Zebomba explains to Dancing without even thinking: "It means my functions were disabled and I wasn't aware of or able to do anything."

Spoiler:

The zebra then looks awkwardly at Icy.

Well, they don't REALLY do that anymore, not for twenty years even!
...
They just had somepony available who already counted as a possession...

Awkward Silence.

Hey, shouldn't we get started on whatever thing it is that you're doing?

You too.
Zebomba prods and prompts Shear and Slime to respond.

"...Indeed air's rock let's go!"
Silver leads off towards air's rock.

Icy nods, starts to follow the path to Air's Rock, and comments. "Well... I believe in this group, you won't be seen as a possession... Or at least I won't Zebomba. Don't honestly know the rest of these ponies well enough to tell for sure how they think. If anything I more wonder how you got the label of a Possession?" The Flightless Pegasus was very confused by this info of the newcomer being labeled as a Possession somehow.

Dancing follows after Silver.

The party begins a long and tedious trek through the desert. The two mercury djinn left with you talk the whole way, but with such grating voices and such inanity that you can't help but repress them. The eventual gist you get is that they can help you acquire items and trade things you have for what you want, and they blessedly will stay scarce most of the time.

Spoiler:

As Air's Rock grows on the horizon, the party encounters a patch of BLISTERINGLY hot sand, and they can almost hear voices in the distance...

Gusty catches a rising air current and wheels overhead.
"Ohh! Thermals! yayy for easy gliding!!
Say, maybe we can find some cactus fruits! I've heard they're tasty!
And squeezable! I'm getting thirsty."

Perception for all the stuff!:

Keen jumped back upon touching the abnormally hot sand patch. The temperature shift and the voices in the distance didn't bode well. Gusty probably had the right idea to stay airborne. "Icy, think you might be able to do anything about that patch of sand? Getting a bad feeling some trouble's coming our way and I'd rather have more...accommodating...terrain to deal with."

"Flight, Hey, that's no fun!"

Gusty hears a shout though he cannot see the source...
A red creature lands on his back, driving him into the hot sand.

Spoiler:

((gusty's a him now? Damn thee, Trixie!))

"Aaahh!" Gusty shouts, divebombing into the sand.
"Phtew... eurg... Sand.. not tasty! What's the big idea?!"

The creature, who had revealed itself to be a djinni, fought harshly against Gusty (who was joined by Silver and Dancing.) The battle didn't last long, with the Mars spirit suffering catastrophic damage early on. It managed to take down Gusty, only to be beaten away by Spice immediately afterwards...

"Whew, well, that was fast fun... Listen, windy dude, I feel kind of bad about taking you down so easily - and also apparently Djinn already like you? - so howsabout I just go along with you for now."

The spirit swiftly guides you to Air's Rock as soon as you describe your destination - its familiarity with the region is immensely helpful.

"My name's Broil, by the way."

Last Chance:

Silver sets up a camp site.
"It should just be dropping off the tablet and leaving but just in case I think we should rest before we reach Air's rock proper."

Lying facedown on the sand, Gusty lifts a hoof
"I'm NOT a dude!"
Still slightly shakey, she clambers to her hooves
"PHTEW!"
"And unless you know as much about cooking as you do about making girls eat sandcakes, no, you're not!"

"In that case sure. But you're on probation, mister!"
Gusty grins and pokes the djinni

Keen wasn't much help during the fight, swinging her hammer at the incorporeal djinn and striking nothing.  Despite the team succeeding against and then befriending the spirit, she felt rather defeated.  After Silver setup the camp site, Keen sulked off to her tent to be alone.

"Ohhh! We're camping out here? Time for food! Spicy, Broil, let's see if we can work some magic!"
She skips over to the fire and gets out her trusty pan, humming as she works.
"Lemme see... seaweed, swamp critter...too bad, no flour, so no octopus rings... STIR FRY!"

Cooking!:

Sniffing the food, Keen stuck her head outside of the tent.  "How soon is dinner?"

ZamuelNow wrote:"How soon is dinner?"

A LONG TIME AGO.

As the party wakes up the following morning, they get a proper look at the legendary monolith they have reached...

Air's Rock...s?

Air's Rocks...

The field before you is less a field than a frozen rockfall. Massive debris - even some containing buildings and sustaining plants - bob and swirl in eerie silence around an indescribable pit.
Looking down from your entrance, marked by a single resolute Cyclone Stone, you see even more disembodied platforms, seemingly disappearing into the distance. The gap itself seems not bottomless, but without bottom - and not darkened, but without light... you don't think you want to fall in it.

Looking to take things one step at a time, you step beyond the eerie stillness around the former Monolith - gently nudged in all and counter directions by aerial eddies.

Vines flip about you, and the light flickers from constantly moving shadows of the rocks above.

"Wha...?"
Silver froze as she took all off this in.
"Where are we going to put the tablet now?"