This great metropolis sits atop a giant multileveld oval pillar of basalt  that rises where the plains meet the sea.  

 

It has been known by many names over the millenia. It was originally Weyr Tacht in draconic, or "The hatchery and School". Later, after the dragons migrated south, the Dwarves moved in and called it Verr Trakt, meaning "Tunnel of Truth." Amongst elves it was named Fer'r'tulter, or "The great distant Iron". Gnomes claimed it was Whaarktongk, a citadel ripped from their chaotic homelands that plunged to earth.

 

Whatever you call it, modern WeatherTop is a sizable metropolis filled with an eclectic melange of races and cultures. Humans and Dwarves account for a little over half the total population, but a great many races have a presence here. The oval plateaus it rests on and within are almost 10 miles long and about 6 across, rising hundres of feet above the coastline. It provies housing for nearly 200,000 souls on the top, in the dwarven and dragon tunnels within, and in the surrounding waters where the merfolk dwell. The ruler and King of WeatherTop for the last 19 years is an ancient red dragon. Long past his rapacious days as a terror of the skies, Draagus is a stern but accomodating ruler. He values security and commerce, so the city is teeming with adventurers and business practices that are not welcome everywhere. Indentured servitude is common, slavery is tolerated, and being assigned to an undead work crew after your life ends (or selling your body to such a team) is not uncommon. He values diversity, and offers gold to encourage communities of new species to move into the city.

 

Adventurers flock to the city because of the Great Pit and the treasures within. The pit is a colossal shaft over 500 feet across that vanishes into the depths of the earth.  No sage claims to know how deep it goes. Rough spiral stairs wrap around the edge, allowing easy travel down into the Pit.  Dimly glowing runes appear along the walls at unpredictable intervals. To those trained to read them, the runes describe a situation of impending peril or lay out an ominous riddle. Each rune is mystically connected to a site where some kind of evil is threatening Weathertop or the surrounding countryside in some way. With the right spell or ritual, the runes become a portal capable of giving adventurers access to the source of the threat. Those that step through this door, hole, cave, or wormhole can take a specially enchanted token with them to reactivate the portal for a return trip. On the other side, anthing may exist: the heart of a volcano, an enemy' fortress, a monster's lair, maybe a haunted old hospital. Using clues from the runes, explorers can then track down the threat and eliminate it. The descriptive runes change over time, growing bigger and more complicated as the threat grows. Occassionally, the runes erupt and open by themselves, allowing whatever peril was once behind it access to Weathertop - somtimes into the shaft of the Pit, but usually the other direction, into the caves and passages under the city. Such an eruption is visible from above or below in the pit, and triggers the beautiful crystal building built over the mouth of the pit to issue a call for bold souls to help scour the undercity or descend into the pit and confront the invader.

In exchange for their vigilance and strenght of arms, Draagus offers adventurers incentives to defend his city. Churches and Colleges offer spells, potions, and enchantments at low cost. Banks, Nobles, Guilds, and coucilmen offer loans at excellent rates, sometimes underwriting entire adventuring groups. Healing is performed for any who get injured in their duties at cost. Even Ressurrection is readily available (but always comes with strings attached). Taxes on treasure brought back from the pit is low, only 5%.

 

Some things about WeatherTop that surpise new arrivals include:

• It is ruled by a Red Dragon who appears to value law and order above all else.

• Work crews of undead patrol the city day and night, almost never harming the living.

• Groups of powerful undead support the city watch in times of need.

• The residents are from a dizzying array of diferent races.

• Plain food and clean water are provided magically for any resident that asks.

• More than 2/3 of the city lies within the ground where Dwarves and Gnomes run things.

• Adventurers make up a good portion of the city, including the nobility.

• Members of aquatic and underground species are common sights in the streets, along with species widely considered evil or monstrous.

• Magical innovations are common and frequently grand in scope.

• A collection of magical gates link the market district to a number of far-off cities. Anyone is allowed to pass these gates for a small toll.

• Other dragons are known to reside in the city, disguised as members of the lesser races.

 

Some common "facts" and rumors...

• The black spire that rises thousands of feet above the temple district is a bone of an acient god of death. It gives the ruler of Weathertop special powers over the undead that maintain the city.

• The great pit that provides so many adventurers their challenges and occassioanlally threatens the city is actually a section of a terrible abyssal rift in space that touches every plane and different times, and spirals down into the darkest depths of oblivion.

• The King collects seneschals, exceptional beings from a handful of different races.  They are actually some kind of draconic familiar for the king.

• When Draagus arrived a score of years ago to take control of the city from the old elven king, many people overheard them talking as if they had known each other for a very long time. Tales vary as to whether they were bitter foes or lovers.

• The Dwarves in the deeper reaches guard dozens of dragon hoards from back when the city was a dragon's roost.

• Likewise, the Gnomes of the undercity possess incredible ancient dragon magic capable of raising mountains, summoning hurricanes, and even pulling the stars from the heavens.

• When the old Elven king's spoiled son learned he was not to inherit the crown, he left the city in a fury, vowing to return with an army to take WeatherTop by force.

• In their grove of colossal trees on the median level, the elves have the ability to grant immortality to anyone they deem worthy.

• In a beautiful palace at the top of the black spire, the gods meet every 10 years to discuss and gamble for the fate of races and nations. The most vile among them is imprisoned there to keep the place ready for their return.

• Draagus invites so many bizarre species into his kingdom because he is looking for somthing or someone specific to a particularly rare race, but even he is not entirely sure what he's looking for.

• Most beings touching the Black Spire die horribly on the spot, only to rise again that night as a spectre.

• The dungeons below Draagus' castle extend miles below the surface of the mesa, with only a few secret passages connecting it to the dwarven warrens.

• The many bridges over the enchanted waterway that winds through the middle of WeatherTop are ensorcelled to clean the waters.  The Merfolk warned that if the city dumped foul water on their city in the cove, they would slay every living inhabitant on the plateau.

• The lizardmen who live in the bogs south of the cove are tampering with their own genetics to become more dragon-like.  Sometimes these dragon-men have been seen in the town.

• The Great Causeway that transports tons of goods daily between the top tier and the middle tier (basically a 100 foot wide escalator) is powered by the stolen souls of every single being who has ever died in the city.

• The Dwarves have a powerful kind of magic that can seal the plateau off from the plain to the north as well as the seas to the south.  It can even solidify the air overhead.

• Every kingdom that has sent an embassador to King Draagus is looking for a way to wrest control of the city and it's incredible treasures from him.  None has ever even come close.

• Draagus knows the secrets to attaining godhood, and has spent the last 2 decades constructing an elaborate ceremony to elevate himself to that power.  The rital will probably destroy WeatherTop in the process.