Their trek through the maze-like passageways of the arena continued for a while, the strange white rock of the passages passing them by. Every now and then they came to a passageway with a rather low ceiling and the great Treemind had to bend down slightly in order to get through. The walk came to an end, however, when one of those many passageways finally opened up into a wider hall of sorts, lit with torches across the walls. The moans and cries of the injured and the dying, as well as the putrid smell, had reached Garagogarag long before the passageway had opened up, and the disgust and nausea which had grown in him before now reached a peak.
Looking around, he saw the blood everywhere and the screams seemed suddenly distant, the smell overwhelming his senses and his sight blurring. 

[color=f7941d][i]Hey, what's going on? Are you ok?[/i][/color] The child's clearly fearful thoughts penetrated the veil of nausea which had overcome his senses. It seemed their link made it so they could even share extreme emotions, for the child's fear pervaded the Treemind's thoughts. It did not help and so he quickly expelled the emotion. Thinking he had gotten better, Garagogarag looked around, only to notice that his feet were suddenly unable to carry him. He was forced to squat and put his hands on the ground for a few seconds in order to regain his composure. The tattoos all over his body were flashing different shades of green and moving around frantically. Shaking his head and steeling himself against the almost evil aura of the place, Garagogarag stood back up, just in time to see a screaming orc on a stretcher being rushed past. He had a length of shattered metal in his chest and blood flowed profusely from the wound. Then a bloodied she-elf fell from the roof and people were talking and the shouts were getting louder and louder and above, the cheers were squeezing in on Garagogarag. Bracing himself and containing a roar of desperation, he walked after his group who were walking off to a little alcove. 
The shouts and smell did not depart as Garagogarag joined the group last of all, and he still felt on edge. He wanted to rip and tear, to force all this blood and noise and all these smells to tremble in fear and simply [i]stop[/i]. 

Where he now stood with his group, shelves and racks of varying weapons and armors lined the walls. The Orc who had been caned the day before was removing the chains from the others. When he came to Garagogarag he looked over the huge bear's arms, searching his furry forearms for the chains. Realising there were none there, he looked up at the bear and Gar looked back. Under normal circumstances, Gar would have offered a pleasant nod or explained that there were no chains big enough for him, but these were not normal circumstances and he did not feel very friendly at all. Instead, he bared back his lips and let out an angry little growl. The small Orc took this as a sign and quickly turned away and took out his anger at being humiliated at one the group. It was the elf, in fact, who appeared to be reaching for something on the racks. The Orc leapt upon him and dragged him back roughly.

'Don't touch the weapons,' he growled. A small squabble ensued, and Gar gathered that weapons would not be permitted in their upcoming fight. The Orc gathered up the chains and left the alcove, shooting Gar a look of hatred, through there was a healthy sprinkle of fear in there too. 
[color=f7941d][i]You'll have to watch yourself around that one,[/i][/color] came the child's thoughts. The fear had not left him, and Gar could not help the feeling that it was afraid of him. He made no reply.

A familiar tapping on the ground of the hall let Gar know that the Tree-Leg was here. The elf - who had introduced himself as Eltharion - confronted him. 
'What is the meaning of this, Lanista? I thought you wanted us to fight, not die like newborn lambs.'
The Tree-Leg simply grinned. He certainly did not seem all that intimidated by the elf, though Gar imagined that had he been as small, old and weak as the Tree-Leg, he would have been a tad cautious.
'Ye'll be goin' into the arena unarmed aye, but your opponents...oh they'll be equipped with some weapons alright.'
This was followed by a brief bout of arguing in which the Tree-Leg made his position clear. They would not be armed. With that, he left.
'Well, any bright ideas?' came Eltharion's voice. There was a brief moment of silence before the Orc - Kamnar was his name - made a response.

'If it means survival, then the rules don’t mean anything to me. I suggest we each sneak in a small weapon as best as we can,' the Orc looked behind him, as if making surer that there were no unwanted listeners. With that, he moved towards the racks and picked up a small dagger. Gar considered all this. It certainly did not appeal to him this whole business of sneaking weapons in. The Tree-Leg had said there would be weapons in the pit. And he felt it was far too convenient for them to just be left inside not their own. Was this some kind of test of their abilities? Gar did not know, but he already had an idea for a battle plan. If they had to work as a team, then that was the greatest weapon of all.

[color=1a7b30][i][b]'We work together,'[/b][/i][/color] he said, his emotions slowly calming as he contained the aura of the place. He would not let it get to him.
[color=1a7b30][i][b]'Our teamwork. That is the greatest weapon,'[/b][/i][/color] with that, he stepped forward and surveyed the others, before pointing at Eltharion and the she-elf (who still had the Tree-Clinger hanging onto her), [color=1a7b30][i][b]'you two. You look fast. Nimble. When we get in. You gather weapons. Quickly,'[/b][/i][/color] he then pointed at Kamnar and the Thunderhoof.
[color=1a7b30][i][b]'You two. You are strong. You protect everyone until weapons arrive,'[/b][/i][/color] he thought for a bit, [color=1a7b30][i][b]'maybe, if there is a wall. Keep against it,'[/b][/i][/color] he then considered everyone else. There was the sickly Skytalon, the little-man and his frightened boy, the small-woman, the Tree-Clinger and the child on his shoulder.
[color=1a7b30][i][b]'I do not know you strengths,'[/b][/i][/color] he said to them, [color=1a7b30][i][b]'if you think you are fast. Join the elves. If you think you are strong. Join these two,'[/b][/i][/color] with that he backed away and said one last thing, [color=1a7b30][i][b]'but me. I will distract the others ones. I am big, my fur is strong. I will attack, draw them to me. Give you all time to be ready.'[/b][/i][/color] with his plan out in the open, he looked around to see what the others thought. Would they agree? Perhaps someone had a better plan. Perhaps they would reject him completely.