Ryker

### Marital

Married (Disputed): Lady Diane ChasConcubines: Adele, Claire, Shirley Engaged (Disputed): Queen Lauren the 2nd

## Background Information

Trained as a mage and coming from a family of powerful mages, Ryker expected to make his fame and fortune diving into dungeons. Unfortunately, his lack of magical stamina resulted in him being kicked out of the Warrenton Guild of Adventurers and driven from the town.

Once his carefully hidden dungeon core becomes active, he plans to become rich and finally get revenge on those who wronged and shamed him. Unfortunately, things are never as easy as they seem to be. Because he owns and controls the only dungeon in the Queensdom of Dale, Ryker becomes increasingly caught up in a political mess that he wants no part of.

## Plot

The Church of Light makes several assassination attempts on Ryker, the last attempt on his life by his own wife, Claire.
Ryker barely makes it to the dungeon in time to be saved from what he perceives as the threat from the Dark Lord of the North’s champions.
Ryker's Bonding with Wynne and her subsequent bonding of all the fairies and imps has made Ryker almost immortal tying their life energies to his.

Ryker finds himself faced off against four armies and must protect Dungeon as well as his betrothed Queen Lauren with all of the luck and cunning he can muster.

Soon after rescuing the Chas family Ryker has a revelation which causes him to become Awakened, which results in his soul leaving his body. Rike intervenes and gives him the option to return to his body unharmed, although with some upgrades which allow him to operate more as a player as shown in the Otherlife series. Ryker subsequently Awakens Marybelle who takes it with remarkable calm.
It is during this time that Dale receives word that the Dark Lord of the North has arrived on the continent and plans to impose peace. This arrival leads to the revelation that Al is Alaric, Runner's son with Srit. Ryker's rescue of Al, and bond with him results in Bastion allying itself with Dale.
Marybelle encourages Ryker to start a magical academy to teach spellwork, which gives him a focus, after restoring Lauren to her throne. It is during testing of the initial batch of applicants that Ryker meets Dot.
Ryker sends Milicent, Heilwig, and Faye to reinforce Dale, which is facing imminent invasion by an alliance of churches that are not aligned with Lambart or Rannulf. This battle is leads to several significant events. Shirley earns the title Godkiller during her defense of the wall. Dot joins the defenders, and is injured. Ryker rescues her and she is healed by Benni. Despite the heroic efforts on the defender's part, a large number of opposed gods band together to breach the gate. Ryker leaves the wall defense to Shirley and joins Robyn, Adele, Faye, Milicent, and Heilwig at the gate. Meino and Ryker are able to stalemate the attack until a large unit of Champions attack together. Despite his best efforts Ryker is unable to stop them and his magical reserves are spent. When Meino is fatally wounded, he tries to pull more power from the Dungeon Core shattering it. In a fit of desperate madness Ryker pulls the core into his own soul, which leads to him becoming the Core, with all bonds being tied directly to him. Because of this, and the Imps and Fairy's faith in him, he becomes a demi-god similar to Runner. He has a faith pool in addition to his mana pool. His desperate move saves the defense of the gate and heals Meino, but he is now bound by the rules for demi-gods with regards to direct involvement in mortal affairs.
With Dungeon secure, and Lambart's army in Dale trapped in Ryker's dome, Ryker returns to Dungeon. Amelia, minding things for Rike while she visits someone, learns of Ryker's ability to store skills in a core, and is able to secure a Master Pyromancer skill core for Alex. In return for this gift, Amelia tells Ryker that Rob is no longer employed by Queen Lauren, and is still in Dale.
Ryker hunts down Rob, and confronts him. While detailing his many plans for revenge upon Rob, Ryker realizes that ultimately revenge would not make his life better, and sets Rob free with the instruction to live a better life as Rike would want. This act of forgiveness and redemption in Rike's name so impresses Rike that she offers him the opportunity to join her pantheon and be the first saint in her religion, which he accepts. Robyn's reaction to this action was predictably enthusiastic.
After returning to Dungeon, Dot approaches Ryker about going back to school, and demonstrates how she can create magical constructs. Ryker uses this example to recreate Tar, who was killed by Lambart.
Lambart's champion attempts to blackmail Ryker into releasing the trapped army by threatening to destroy the city of Felist, Ryker responds by stating that he would escalate that tactic which compels Lambart, Rike, Runner, and Rannulf to agree to an accord which stipulates that such tactics would not be used by either side. Ryker seizes the opportunity to challenge Lambart. Ultimately Ryker and Robyn defeat Lambart's champions, and Rike gains Lambart's founding relic, and the title "of the Light".
With Lambart's neutralization and Claire's removal from the magic done by Lambart, Ryker and Shirley are able to pursue the recovery of Bianca. During this time, Ryker and Shirley swap soul fragments which gives Shirley access to Ryker's faith pool, and increases her magical power.
In the final scenes of the book, Shirley confronts and defeats Ryker's undead father. Runner faces off against Rannulf, and Ryker recovers Bianca. Ryker gives Bianca the ward necklace he and Shirley created for her, only to have Claire seize her and leap off a cliff with her. Their bodies are not found.
Ryker and Shirley are devastated by the loss of Bianca, but return to the Academy where Dot and the other students help them cope. After giving Ryker time to grieve, Runner approaches him about helping him with his Zeus stalemate.

## Appearances in other Novels

Dungeon Deposed series

 Right of Retribution 2 - The Architect

## Quotable quotes

*You want the stinky foot cheese? You eat it. You can have all the stinky foot cheese. I’m going to eat the tasty, dirty, common cheese. Because it’s delicious and it’s what I want.” - DD1*