Portage Gate (Torrune)

The Portage Gate, also called the Toll Taker's Gate or Portage Road Gate, is the biggest, busiest, and most important gate in the walls of Torrune's Low City. Through it runs the Portage Road up to Sillport above the cataracts; as the name of the gate (and road) suggest, all goods being portaged around the falls to or from Sillport must pass through here. It is a crime against the Archon's law to take trade goods into or out of Torrune via any other gate, if they are bound for Sillport or coming from there. 
The reason for this restriction is that just inside the Portage Gate, in the bustling courtyards of the Anvil, the Portreeve's men inspect and levy taxes upon all goods coming and going. Here are collected the appropriate fees for passage around the cataracts via Torrune and Sillport; this revenue is the source of Torrune's great wealth and the reason the archon's coffers overflow with gold. It is also the motivation for all the smuggling and tax evasion that occurs in and around Torrune. The basic goal of all such activity is to get goods through or past the city, up or down the Portage Road, without going through this gate and paying the Archon his share.