Highway Gate

This is the grand entrance to the city, the portal by which so many travelers first enter this magical realm. It, together with the Cargo Gate, remains open at all times, except of course in the event of an extreme emergency.

Through its wide portal pass caravans of seaborne goods from Hardby, a huge amount of foodstuffs from the fertile farmsteads along the valley of the Selintan, huge timber wagons with raw materials for carpenters and builders, and virtually all overland trade with Dyvers, Celene, Furyondy, the Wild Coast, and all parts south and west of the Free City.

The Highway Gate guard post is a prestige assignment for the troops and sergeants of the City Watch. Those sergeants who perform well here over a period of years can expect to move on to much greater responsibilities in the service of the Captain-General. Thus the guards at this gate pay the closest attention to details of procedure. Of course, bribes are still accepted for dismissal of contraband charges, but the searches for such contraband are more meticulous.

Because of the expenence of the guard details stationed here, they search a lower proportion of the travelers, but discover a greater amount of contraband. Characters attempting to smuggle here suffer a x4 penalty to their Wisdom for the Wisdom check to see if they can bluff the guard. And random searches against smugglers are 35% likely to occur.

The Highway Gate is the duty post of two elite patrols of the city watch. There is also a standard patrol stationed in the gate house.

Highway Gate: This is the main entrance to the city, the magnificent gate through which most first-time arrivals pass. Huge caravans from across the central and western Flanaess enter here. Two elite patrols and one standard patrol act as sentries here, and their searches for smugglers and criminals are fairly meticulous. Somehow the guards miss detecting those members of the Thieves’ Guild who are disguised as peasants to spy on traffic through this gate in search of victims and enemies.