Deshi raises a hand to intervene, realizes that they probably look like a scary talking dinosaur to the child, and finally buries their face in their hands, defeated. 

After giving the boy a moment to bask in the glory of the Thunder Hippo....

Ormond points at himself and says "Pei Ormond." Then looking at one hand, he waves it a bit and says "Ormond" and then waves his other hand and says "Rionta" then he shakes his own hands together in the style of arm-grab greeting he would see among the tribe he spent time with. He then extends his hand in greeting to the boy.  Ormond will wait a moment to see if the boy reaches out in greeting.

If he does, he shakes the boy's hand/arm firmly but friendly.  If the boy does not, Ormond repeats the peace/submission gesture and does his best to put on a gentle smile.

Regardless of the boy's actions, Ormond points towards the tower of smoke that they were headed to, and does the "hands-up, shoulder shrug, slightly confused look" at the boy. Then he points to the group and himself and mimics a person walking (one hand using two fingers as legs 'walking' on his other hand) and the points again at the smoke.

Penny just watches all the pantomime with amusement.

The child raises a hand tentatively toward Roland, still in an awestruck state, but Ormond manages to grab his attention. He still seems a bit out of it, but he nods, and gestures for you all to follow him. He then takes off running as fast as his little legs can take him... 15 feet per round, 30 if dashing!

I mean, *cough* a brisk jog.

Ormond follows closely, suddenly concerned for the boy's well-being.

Penny picks up and follows, at the pace of the others, not at the kid’s pace.

Roland, shirtless and half hippofied, trots after the kid with his glaive on his shoulder and armor tied to his pack. "ORMOND. Taking away a fans meeting with their idol that way is.. is.. NOT COOL!" He blurts out as they jog through the jungles underbrush. 

And so the party takes off after the child, maneuvering through the bush and bramble. You notice that he is much quieter than the rest of you, despite being substantially younger. After about 20 minutes of jogging after him, the child vanishes into a bush. However, you four move the branches to the side to see a small clearing. The child is tugging at the hand of an adult male, who has two men nearby. They have similar tattoos to the child, albeit seemingly permanent and more complex. The man kneels down to speak with the child, then notices you all. He moves to guard the child, and the other two men raise spears toward you. However, as Roland exits, the men freeze. The glance at each other, lower the spears, and carefully kneel to Roland. The child frantically follows suit.

Penny groans audibly. “No! No no no no no. Flea infested Roland is not their god! Please no?”

Ormond claps Roland on the back, "Thank you for making this easier - but make sure they don't try to sacrifice us in your honor."  He then offers the peace gesture to the genuflecting tribes-people in front of him.

Deshi stands to the side, hurriedly scribbling into their notebook a record of everything transpiring. 

Roland beams with something that can only be described as ill intended godliness when everyone kneels in front of him. "FINALLY! SOMEONE! RECOGNISES! MY! AWESOMENESS!" With a thud he sets his glaive into the ground. Roland lifts his hands above his subjects. "PEI THUNDER HIPPO, LORD OF THE RING, GLADIATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE, KILLER OF EAGLES!" He gestures to himself and flexes. 

The man who is kneeling looks a bit confused as Ormond speaks, but looks up and places a hand to his chest, “Peilei Tonta, okaa Hipauta.” He moves his hand to gesture to the child, “Peiho Toka,” then to his compatriots, “Peiho Rahoi, Peiho Lupilei.” He lowers his head again, “Ansei rafo Hipauta.” He gestures behind him and looks expectantly.

Deshi raises a claw. "Beg pardon, Tonta. Peilei Deshi. 'Ansei rafo?' What is that?" the tortle asks (infuriatingly, he's now a folklorist rather than a longer a student of language and naming). 

Penny sits on the ground and begins filling in her map of the underground world using her Cartographer skills, ignoring the goings on. She’s quite into it, and seems to have slipped into an absent-minded fugue not unlike Dr. Walton.

OOC > Prof Walton? I may not have that right.

Tonta’s Gears Spin: 19

He did not get a word of what that means. He kind of makes a little “walking legs” with his fingers, “Raf... o... Hipauta.”

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Penny sits on the ground and begins filling in her map of the underground world using her Cartographer skills, ignoring the goings on. She’s quite into it, and seems to have slipped into an absent-minded fugue not unlike Dr. Walton.

OOC > Prof Walton? I may not have that right.

 Correct. That was his name.

Roland picks up his glaive and points in the direction he was gesturing towards. "Aha. Uhm.. rafo!" He starts walking where he pointed. "Hey, come on, they want us to walk over here." 

“What? Um...” Penny gathers her stuff and follows distractedly. 

As Roland begins walking, the native group gets up and starts walking ahead of him. And you walk... and you walk... and you walk.

The first hour passes, meanwhile, Tonta continues to speak to Roland, who I assume is just smiling, nodding, and repeating words every now and then.

Toka, meanwhile, is dancing and laughing as your group continues forward.

Ormond and Penny, as you are the only ones with armor, make a Constitution Save.