Wellgarth

Wellgarth is one of the more unique towns in Dragon Quest II. Located in the southern peninsula of the Southern Continent, just across the sea from the Southern Archipelago, the majority of the town is located underground. Why this is is never really explained. It's far away from any other settlement, and none of the townspeople comment on the unusual circumstances of the town. A lot of sources I've found online suggest that the people moved underground to defend against attacks, but nothing in the game actually says this. It certainly would be a viable option to make Wellgarth something like the Cappadocian underground cities, which exist as citadels for the people to retreat into in times of siege. It's an evocative setting with fascinating implications on worldbuilding, and it provides a useful justification to give megadungeons some versimilitude - especially when it's directly based on something from real life.

However, there aren't any structures on the surface of Wellgarth besides a small fortress. You would think that if the town is a temporary institution that exists to house refugees, there would be something above ground. But there aren't even ruins, which the destroyed city of Moonbrooke has. My personal answer to the dilemma? Just make it a city of dwarves.

Sure, the people in Wellgarth use the same graphics as those of any other town. But then, those sprites are generic townsfolk shared between all the towns anyway. And there's nothing that would indicate that they aren't dwarves. The Erdrick Trilogy features appearances by elves and hobbits, but no dwarves, so making Wellgarth a dwarven city is an easy way to complete the triad. For that matter, Wellgarth is where some of the best equipment in the game can be purchased, which fits with the trope of dwarves being expert craftsmen. In a setting like The Saga of the Ortegids, which tries to reframe the setting of the Dragon Quest games in a way that isn't reliant on game mechanics, Wellgarth could still be a place to buy powerful magic items - not because it's a late-game location, but because it's home to dwarven smiths with the knowledge to create such things. Getting there could be a quest in itself. And winning the favor of the dwarves might be necessary to win such a reward.

Besides, as any Dwarf Fortress player would know, the lower reaches of a dwarven city - the abandoned mineshafts, ruins of previous settlements, and sealed-off tunnels of those who dug too deep - are great fodder for megadungeons anyway. You even have a safe town for rest, recovery, and restocking at the top.

Wellgarth may not be a wholly dwarven city. It's located near the mountainous region of Rhone, which is certainly a point in support of it being predominately inhabited by dwarves, but it's in a relatively open area surrounded by plains and near the coast. There may be other dwarven citadels in the mountains, but Wellgarth might be a trading post in an area easily accessible by humans to facilitate communication between the dwarves of the Southern Continent and the outside world. We don't see a king or other authority figure in Wellgarth, so it may be a vassal of a larger dwarven kingdom we never see the capital of.

If Wellgarth is a trade center, it may well have a population of humans as well. And that ties into another feature of the city we see - there seems to be a criminal underworld (no pun intended). One of the shopkeepers sells a key that can open the cells of the town jail, suggesting that there is contraband being passed around on the black market, even in seemingly reputable businesses. Furthermore, in order to buy the key, you have to specifically ask for it, represented by picking a blank item on the shop menu. Another citizen alludes to this, so it seems the existence of this black market is a secret known to some select people that can be trusted with the knowledge. There may be a thriving thieves' guild in Wellgarth, and getting involved with the right people might open a new world of resources and opportunities.