Ushering the other two away from the centre of the arena the elderly goblin looked Jarrod up and down.

“Whelp. Just because you get to choose the type of challenge does not mean you get to decide upon the exact tone it takes nor its rules. Now stop being impertinent and wait for the rest of His Chosen People to attend us. A great showing like this? It happens literally once every two or three lifetimes. Win or lose, this story will be told, re-told and embellished for over 1,000 years to come.

You choose to challenge me to a game of chance, something you believe gives you an even chance. You could not be more mistaken in your belief young human. We are going to play a game of Goblin design.

Until those stands fill up, please do relax.”

Over the next half hour or so, the two other champions had removed the throne and brought out a small number of items to place them centre stage for all to see. One of these was a small stone pedestal, with a hollowed out stone bowl fused to the top of it.

There was a small table, made of some sort of crystal, elaborately carved, with a small pouch of velvet that clinked heavily when put down on the top of said table.

Over the next hour or so, Jarrod felt innumerable warm tingles run down his spine and across his arms and fingers, the tell-tale sign of someone using some form of identification skill on him. Every time a new goblin entered the amphitheatre and took a seat, he had another tingle.

Soon one goblin became two. Then they were entering in small groups of friends, until after about 15 minutes the steady trickle turned into a deluge of green, brown and grey flesh. Here and there he even saw red skinned goblins, as well as a singular purple skinned one. There was a dulled roar of conversation as the entire congregation was busy talking about him and the upcoming challenge, or so he assumed. There was a small number of young male goblins that had clearly taken offence to this human in their midst. One who was being hyped up by his friends had stridden down to the edge and was arguing loudly with Kyauta, gesturing at Jarrod and miming various attacking actions. Kyauta held his ground, arms resting lightly on his huge axe and was slowly shaking his head. The youngster took a step back and then rather than turning back to his friends, tried to leap over the heads of the goblins sat in the front row. Before his feet could touch the ground, his head had been separated from its neck, and was rolling across the ground. Rather than create a stunned silence as Jarrod expected instead all the goblins that had seen this happen cheered, then continued their conversations as if actions such as his were an everyday practice.

The atmosphere slowly turned more akin to that of a mid-summer festival in Woodend. There were some enterprising merchants, with trays of dodgy looking sausages, still more had sticky looking tankards full of a sickly-sweet smelling punch. There were even a number with some form of small animal that had been roasted on sticks, how they had managed to do that in under half an hour was a complete mystery. The younger goblins were already getting bored having been dragged here by their parents and were now running around in some elaborate game of hide and seek, coupled with those who lost getting bitten by the one who found them first.

After nearly an hour passed with Jarrod just being stood there, not fully understanding before now, just how in over his head he was whilst Leuc was loving life. The elderly goblin had sprawled on the floor, was just basking in the glow of the attention all of the others were lavishing upon him and enjoying the undulating roar of their conversations going on all around him. Clearly an unmarked length of time had elapsed, but it was significant enough for him to stand, slamming his brass sceptre into the ground demanding silence and attention from all present.

“Greetings to the Chosen, true inheritors of the system. Today we have an event, highly unlikely to ever be repeated in any of your lifetimes, or even your children’s lifetimes. Elouan has deemed it fit to once again provide a challenger from outside our forest to pass through four of his tests. Four times this human has been challenged; four times he has emerged victorious. Now I know we are doing this in Common, unfortunately because Humans are by and large entirely illiterate, stupid, uneducated and uncultured, they do not know the true tongue. I know most of the time you have to listen to me once a week ramble on, but today is an auspicious day.

The human chose a different challenge, than a challenge by combat.”

At this the goblins who had been up to now dutifully tittering when required, jeered loudly at Jarrod. Several even went as far as to throw mystery meat sausage at him, as well as a single giant roasted cockroach.

“Yes, indeed my people, indeed. He is a coward; he is not fit to wear a warrior’s blade. He chose a game, a game of chance, of fortune. It matters not, you have all seen him, you have taken his measure. How a Level 3 has possibly made it to this final challenge escapes me. I can only assume he cheated – there is no other rational explanation. However, there is no way to cheat this final challenge, so here his exploration ends, tonight, we feast on human!”

Walking forwards to the stone pedestal he gestured towards Jarrod, beckoning him to join him on the opposite side.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“For those of you who have not previously seen the Bones of Elouan be played, the game itself is simple in nature. Within this bag I have six cubes, all carved from the femur of our lords first and greatest true avatar. They have been blessed by over a hundred different clerics, being passed down from chieftain to chieftain. The rule is simple, we must toss all six dice in the air, reaching at least ten feet. The total numbers shown face up when they land are added together, and the largest number wins. Any which land outside of the bowl must themselves be discounted. Finally, there is one of the dice, it will appear to be golden to all who view it. If this lands in the bowl, it is an automatic win for the tosser.

As the defender, I choose the right to go second, and demand the human goes first.”

Jarrod gulped reflexively. He reached for the velvet pouch and tipped a number of dice into his hand. Examining them, they all appeared to be made from bone, they were finely carved and appeared to be balanced, but the dots representing numbers had basically been gouged out of the surface of the bone. There was no elegance, nor time taken over this element, and it left the whole a strange dichotomy.

I know I wasn’t your first choice, and truth be told, you weren’t really mine. But if you could do anything to help me out here, anything at all, that would be great. Sending a prayer to The Other, wasn’t the best idea according to the humans of the shard, especially the priests. However, he really felt he had nothing to lose at this point.

This is very abnormal, but I do suppose levelling the playing field a little is worth it. That goblin is going to wipe the floor with you otherwise.

The voice of the God fading from his mind was followed swiftly by a system message.

Skill: Gamblers Luck [dice] unlocked.

You may turn this skill on or off at will. Whenever you are playing a game of chance involving dice, any time the dice would land with a score of 1, it will instead land with at least a score of 3.

In addition, grants a 5% buff to landing a maximum score per die, or having special die conditions activate dependent upon the rules of the game being played.

The skill consumes 30MP per minute of being active.

If you deactivate the skill before a minute has expired, you will still have consumed 30MP.

The last thing he expected was a response. He almost dropped the dice in shock with that revelation. Closing his fist over the whole batch, he gave them a quick shake activated his skill, and taking a quick deep breath, blew it out over his closed fist and tossed the dice into the air. Immediately he deactivated his skill, saving the 30MP for another throw if needed.

All eyes looked towards the bowl on the top of the pedestal even if the only two who would be able to see it clearly would be Jarrod and Leuc.

“Unbelievable, all six dice have landed after securing the required height, earning a score of 27 for his first throw! The golden dice landed but was not on the top, therefore there is no instant win”

Shoving Jarrod out of the way with a bony shoulder, the old goblin took the dice in his hands and with a quick whispered.

“Sheer luck whelp, now watch how we do it properly” tossed the dice himself. This time only 5 landed in the bowl, the sixth landing with such force it skittered out!

“A total of 25 based on 5 dice, with the golden being on the bottom as well! Round 1 goes to the human through sheer luck. Don’t worry my people, he will not be able to repeat this performance!”

The second round began, and Jarrod again got all six dice to land, this time scoring only 22. The chieftain again only got five dice to land but scored a 27!

“So, it comes down to the final throw. You do not have it in you human. I beat your score on 6 with only 5 dice. I will be going first for this final round.

Elouan, hear me, I beseech you in this hour, show this human the error his ways, lend me your divine strength”

With the last exhalation of his prayer, Leuc tossed his dice high in the air, all six of them easily clearing 20 feet. All six skittered around the bowl, risking bouncing out and over each other but settling at the bottom after a few seconds. Turning to Jarrod he smiled a predator’s smile, more terrifying than anything the young human had seen in part due to the goblins complete lack of teeth, but more because of the look in his eyes.

“The human is doomed. He will never be able to beat a score of 35!”

Looking at the chieftain, Jarrod had no words. He could hear and feel his pulse throbbing in his ears, he felt sick to his stomach, warm all over, sweat dripping off of him. Grabbing the dice he closed his fist, sent a silent prayer, activated his Gamblers Luck [dice] before shaking his hand then tossed them high into the sky as well. His dice only cleared fifteen feet, but still easily clearing the 10 feet required. His dice did not fall uniformly, the first three skittered but landing securely in the bowl all showing a six.

The next landed safely and then disaster struck. The fifth landed on the rim of the bowl, bounced in to join its brethren but still had enough velocity to be pinged out. It skipped around the inside of the bowl, bouncing from side to side then fell. Outside of the bowl, onto the ground.

Leuc turned to Jarrod, the predators smile growing even wide, he pointed his sceptre at the human with the gem glowing an ominous red.

“Game over human, time to die.”

Then the sixth die landed, inside the bowl. The chieftains eye flicked over to check the bowl and looked incredulous. The golden die had landed on the top. Even though he scored lower Jarrod had secured an instant win!

Letting out a howl, whether of rage, or born of frustration Jarrod didn't know. The chieftain turned to address the crowd all around him, before he could say anything a system message flashed for all Awakened in the amphitheatre interrupting him before he could start.

Congratulations to the human known as Jarrod Shatterstone for successfully completing the Goblins Grotto / land of the Elouan’s Chosen. He will be removed from the final challenge within 30 seconds. Due to not completing a combat challenge in the final room, rewards will be accordingly amended.

By the time all had chance to read through the message from the system, the human had vanished – the dice had been left behind.

He found himself outside the entrance to the dungeon, with a small wooden box, as well as a large leather pouch lying in front of him on the ground.