Medrekk Thunderstep

Medrekk Thunderstep is a half-dwarf, half-goliath goatherd living in the Doilea area in the year 1414. One of the protagonists of Drifts of Aduna, he is known for his aristocratic airs, hefty staff, and once-fancy clothes.

Early Life
On Eleint 1st, 1394, Joggor (then known as Juicy) got drunk at a seedy tavern in Niigata and had sex with one of the only people remaining in the bar at the time, a goliath woman named Onerra Thunderstep. Joggor was so drunk at the time he barely remembered the encounter until after the Battle of Grotmoria, when he encountered her showing signs of morning sickness while continuing to drink heavily. This may have affected Medrekk's development.

Due to the Withering, Onerra was forced to stay with others for survival, which led to her and Medrekk bouncing around various Goliath tribes, which inevitably resulted in their expulsion due to the elders' "fear" of Medrekk. One particularly disturbing incident occurred around 1401, although Medrekk is unable to remember what exactly happened.

Eventually, at age 13, Medrekk and Onerra moved to Caldtown to live with Onerra's sister Zaakha, who ran a butcher shop. Zaakha and Medrekk did not get along well. Around this time Medrekk began caring for a cow named Rikki ("broken" in Giant) which became his only friend. In 1410, Onerra informed Medrekk of his father's identity, causing Medrekk to explode in anger and storm off. On Hammer 16th, 1411 Zaakha butchered Rikki without Medrekk's knowledge, which led to a rift between them that resulted in Medrekk's departure to Doilea, alone.

In Doilea
Upon reaching the area north of Doilea, Medrekk sought shelter with a firbolg man by the name of Balymar Carro, who was in the business of herding goats. Balymar provided Medrekk with a job as well as food and shelter. One year after they had met, Balymar took Medrekk to Doilea itself, attempting to disguise him as a particularly tall dwarf. Although this disguise failed and Medrekk was humiliated, he remained grateful to Balymar for the companionship.

Towards the end of 1412, Balymar asked Medrekk to deliver a goat to a nobleman living in Masca by the name of Adaelius. While in town, Medrekk visited Wolfhowl Tavern where he witnessed Cafley Youngshout, a bard in the College of Joggor, telling the story of the White Cracker. This enraged Medrekk, who began to physically confront her, only to be stopped by Wetzel, an artificial man who was a friend of Cafley. Once they were kicked out of the bar, Medrekk revealed that he was Joggor's son, which led to an apology from Cafley. The three settled their differences over a pot of frostflower tea, and the other two agreed to join Medrekk in his return to Doilea.

Upon the arrival of the traveling party, Medrekk discovered Balymar's lifeless body, along with the goats who had died without his care. As Balymar had no children or family, Medrekk assumed ownership of Balymar's land, which he renamed the Thunderstep Estate to honor his mother. He buried Balymar in a hill on the property which he named Carro's Rest. He used the money from the sale in Masca to start over, and by the time the events of Drifts of Aduna occured he had four goats and about 13gp in total wealth.

In Drifts of Aduna
Following a severe blizzard in Aduna, one of Medrekk's goats was killed and his house invaded by the corpse of a half-elf, not undead but animated by alien parasites. That night, Medrekk dreamt once again of his patron, who told Medrekk two words, "Jaatha Makenna". Medrekk interpreted this as a quest to find and kill "Jaatha Makenna", whom he assumed was a Doilean local.

After stabling his goats in town to prevent further infection, he decided to join Wetzel, Cafley, Erakhan, Sidra, and Ava on their investigation into the disappearance at the Doilean lumber camp. While there he was attacked by one of the workers, a gnome, at whom launched a spell at in response. This gnome was then shot and killed by Ava and Erakhan. Almost immediately after this the group was attacked by the "Boarror", a massive boar-like creature infected with the Far Realm parasites. This creature nearly killed Medrekk and succeeded in infecting his left arm, which required an emergency amputation.

Now limited to the use of only one hand, Medrekk's usefulness was greatly constrained. Eventually Wetzel was able to build him a crude prosthetic arm which was useful for little more than holding his staff, although with Disguise Self (a spell Medrekk was very fond of using) its appearance could be changed to that of a normal arm, although it could not be controlled directly.

In Doilea one evening, Cafley told Joggor that she had been visited by Joggor in disguise, and had told him about Medrekk, whom she did not think Joggor was even aware of. She reported that Joggor considered this and said he would try to introduce himself to his son when the time was right. Around this time, the group began noticing a red sparrow following them around, even in the wilderness, although they did not realize until later that the sparrow was Joggor's alternate form.

In an attempt to find the identity of this "Jaatha Makenna", Medrekk eventually disguised himself as a human and enlisted the aid of "Wiz" (whom Medrekk repeatedly and mistakenly referred to as "the Wiz"), a local criminal kingpin. Wiz told Medrekk that if he killed a halfling man named Wilzor Bree and returned what Wilzor had stolen from him, Wiz would find Medrekk's quarry. Upon reaching Minde, where Wiz believed Wilzor was hiding, Medrekk, along with Cafley, Wetzel, Sidra, Erakhan, Ava, and Orroe (the group which would eventually be called The Seekers), broke into Wilzor's house only to find him chained in the basement, affected by the same alien parasites. The group succeeded in killing Wilzor, and Medrekk, disguised as a woman, fled the scene, but was forced to return later to recover a box containing Wilzor's stolen goods. However, as Wetzel had been the one who dealt the fatal blow, he shut down, and a message concerning a "morality failure" flashed in his eyes, conveying a message that he would self-destruct in one hundred days.

Returning to Doilea, Wiz revealed that Jaatha Makenna was not in Doilea nor even Degara, but in fact was a former leader of "The Outland Raiders", a group of bandits who frequently traveled to the Outlands, a plane home to many demons, in search of valuable treasure. Wiz's investigators were only able to determine that this person had disappeared eighteen years prior, around 1396, not long after the Withering began. Medrekk later discovered that Makenna had disappeared along with Palava Okva after stealing his scepter, a symbol of his authority to command legions of demons. This led Medrekk to believe that Palava Okva may have been his patron, although this was never confirmed.

After the Seekers were hired by Adam Byers to protect him on his preaching tour of Degara, Medrekk hoped to speak with Adam more about his tenets regarding The Coming End, however, Adam was not particularly interested in converting Medrekk, viewing him as weak and useless to their continued survival.

In the Doilean wilderness, Adam and the Seekers were viciously assaulted by a giant bear, with Medrekk nearly dying in the attempt to escape. The bear pursued the party relentlessly, eventually closing in on Medrekk, as he was the slowest of the group. The bear pinned him down and would have killed him if Joggor had not intervened and protected his son. Following this, Medrekk adopted a less adversarial tone towards his father, and expressed gratitude for saving his life.

On the way to Ismole, Medrekk helped rescue Vorji and Sidra from the yetis, once again nearly dying in the process. When the yetis were dead, Bretzel took over Wetzel's body and suggested that Vorji's arm would make for a good replacement for Medrekk's. Although surprised at this sharp change in Wetzel's behavior, Medrekk enthusiastically agreed, and carried Vorji's severed arm the rest of the way to Ismole.

In Ismole, Medrekk agreed with the rest of the party that they should go to Mt. Gikwar in an attempt to find Triq and save Wetzel's life. He felt particularly guilty considering his role in the triggering of Wetzel's countdown to self-destruction and the amelioration Medrekk's creations had brought to him. He also survived a terrorist attack on Joggor's Grove in the Ismole library, being knocked flat and nearly killed by the explosion.

Wetzel began constructing a mechanical arm to fully replace Medrekk's missing left one, dissecting Orroe's arm and using the bones as the basis for this new prosthetic. When the surgery to attach the arm was complete, Medrekk once again had full use of his limbs, if only for about a week. Despite his stated opposition to alcohol in general, he drank to the point of passing out the night before, hoping the intoxication combined with the sedative drugs Wetzel would provide would be sufficient to numb the pain of the surgery.

Near the end of his stay in Ismole Medrekk noticed the same sparrow he believed to be an avatar of Joggor, and followed it to a building outside of town in which he spoke at length with his father for the first and only time. Inspired by Joggor's words of affirmation and pride in his son, Medrekk turned from despising his father to nearly worshipping him. Joggor gave him a Cloak of Displacement as a parting gift.

On the way to Mt. Gikwar, Medrekk was optimistic about his future. He had finally made peace with his father and thanks to a massive ruby he found in the yetis' cave, made plenty of money as well. This stopped when his freshly installed mechanical arm was sliced off by an errant rift near the base to Mt. Gikwar. Although extremely angered to be limited to only one arm again, he was relieved when another "Wetzel" was found, whose hand was promptly cut off to use as a replacement, although such repair could not be done immediately.

During the first encounter with the Conglomeration, Medrekk ran before anyone else but once again, due to his low speed and the nearly 12 pounds of coins he was carrying with him, fell behind the rest. Upon seeing Valgramith at the top of the skyscraper in which the Conglomeration resided, Medrekk asked him if he knew anything about Palava Okva. Valgramith did not respond, but did give the party Orroe's head which he had plucked from her resting place in the yetis' cave.

While the party was exploring the metal ship, Medrekk was once again attacked and bitten by a host of the alien parasites. This time, the parasites infested his right arm, just as they had done his left arm previously. Once again, the butcher's knife he carried with him was used to amputate his own arm, and Medrekk was left without any way to attack, cast spells, or do practically anything besides walk and talk.

As a result, when the party was confronted one final time by the Conglomeration, Medrekk volunteered to sacrifice himself, distracting the Conglomeration and allowing the rest of the party to escape. Apart from his newfound physical disabilities, Medrekk did not believe Wetzel would be able to make a second prosthetic arm, and, believing that his father would purchase his soul in the afterlife, preferred the prospect of death in heroism and bliss to a lifetime of misery. His fate in the afterlife, however, is unknown.