The Gambler and Riddler of the Wyvern Tavern

Some friendships can be made from unlikely duos, and some of those friendships take those duos on quite a journey.

The Gambler and Riddler of the Wyvern Tavern

An attempt at a clever little narrative piece

Through every rising of Helios and recession of eventide

Two men engaged in graceful games of chess and musing minds

A gambler and riddler once met at the Wyvern Tavern

And have since analyzed the tapestries of Alchemy and Draugr

The restless Riddler was gleeful to meet

A rival difficult for him to defeat

And the Gambler was enchanted by Relief

For he'd found someone of the same tree as he

Neither could claim checkmate, try hard though they may

As they clashed deep within the realms of the Arcane and Profane

The Gambler told the Riddler one day

He could solve any puzzle, no matter how great

To which his friend replied, after some thought

"Then here's the easiest and hardest riddle to solve!"

"I transmute both the dimensions of reality and dreams!

I am both a Son of Land and Daughter of Sea!

I'm not evil, but my shadow's name is Suffering!

What name would thee say belongs to me?"

The Riddler watched as the Gambler muttered and pondered

Uncertain if he should have moved his queen into the path of danger

Hours flowered, weeks withered and died

Before the Gambler gave a surprising sigh

But then he told his friend, with star-shine bright eyes

"I swear I'll solve this by the time of my demise!"

Twenty years since that now faded day

The Riddler reminisced over the Gambler's grave

Through tears he said, "We have reached stalemate

And victory is both yours AND mine to claim!"

Inspired by Over the Hills and Far Away by Nightwish

Author's Note

The idea for this just came up out of nowhere this morning as I was listening to Nightwish. I honestly don't know whether to think this is good material or rubbish, but hey, live and learn, right? I'll let you all be the judge of that! Overall, not my best (probably not EVEN close!), but at the end of the day, I enjoyed writing this, and really just wanted to try something different (maybe this is the reason why I'm never confident in my writing....I try too many different things! :P). Anyway, tell me what you think, I'm seriously interested in knowing what you all think of this particular piece!

Oh, and this is m first time ever attempting to create my own riddle, so please feel free to tell me if the riddle itself needs work (because I certainly think it does! Maybe it's just me, but still...). :)

Reviews

[.]

An interesting piece, Dan.

I like the idea behind it; it is very original, and i couldnt work out the answer to your riddle; riddles are not my strength, dont have the patience for them!

Like Zoe below, i felt you struggled with the rhyme and cohesion of the piece a little. Something to work on. Otherwise it is a nicely written poem; some very good language throughout.

[DoormanDan]

Yeah, this was my first attempt at writing a poem of this type, so I was expecting that I would have issues with something, and that something turned out to be the rhyming of all things (surprising, as I usually don't struggle with that in anyway). Oh well, live and learn, right? Thanks for the constructive feedback Doodley, I sincerely appreciate it. :)

[Zoya]

I see that you too struggled with the rhymes while writing this poem.Thats natural, actually, until you become an expert at it. I loved the story and the way you've put your thoughts into words. Well done!

[DoormanDan]

Hey Zoe, thanks for reviewing! Unfortunately, this isn't my best work, and is probably the worst I've ever been with rhyming. The only reason the rhymes were so difficult for me in this one was because of the type of story I was trying to tell (I generally don't go this specific with my stories). I experiment a lot with my writing, which results in a lot of hit and miss depending on what I'm trying to do with the writing. Most of my other pieces have fewer contrived rhymes in them than this one. Anyway, I always appreciate honesty here, so thanks for providing that! :)

[Zoya]

You are welcome :) Keep on experimenting!

[DoormanDan]

I will, once ideas start pouring out of my head again, that is. :)

[Zoya]

Haha...They soon will :)

[Coyote Poetry]

A very entertaining story written.
"Twenty years since that now faded day
The Riddler reminisced over the Gambler's grave
Through tears he said, "We have reached stalemate
And victory is both yours AND mine to claim!"
I liked the above lines and the story line/characters. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[DoormanDan]

Well, I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed this piece and the story I tried to tell! Thanks for reviewing! :)

[Coyote Poetry]

Was my pleasure and you are welcome.

[Vaporvision]

A very good storyline, full of whimsy and most of the rhymes were very well made. I do have to say though, some of them were a bit of a stretch... I don't mind though, rhyming poems aren't easy. Very impressive, and nice to read.

[DoormanDan]

Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that some of the rhymes in this piece are contrived in this piece, but they aren't like that because I struggle with rhyming. They're mainly like that because I was more confined by the type of story I was writing than I usually am. This isn't my best, but when you try to have a ton of variety in your work (which I always try to do), that's to be expected. All I can do is keep improving! Thank you so much for being honest in your review, I really appreciate it! :)

[Emily]

Awesome poem!
I loved it!
Keep it up!!

[DoormanDan]

Thanks for reading, Emily. Glad you like reading this. :)

[Valentine]

Dan, I always enjoy your writes and try to encourage you to keep it up. Even if it is just a hobby as it is for most people. This one has me trying to figure out the answer and all I can think of is death as he died.
If I am right message me, let others guess too.. Valentine