The westernmost river descends from the Miramar Peaks through a channel of metamorphic stone polished to an almost glassy smoothness by millennia of meltwater. The Slickrun earns its name from this stone—and from the speed of the current, which moves far faster than its placid surface suggests.
Travelers who attempt to ford the Slickrun often don't survive the experience. The smooth riverbed offers no purchase, and what looks like knee-deep water can sweep a person off their feet and carry them half a mile before depositing them against a rock or into the strait. Local guides mark safe crossing points with cairns, but the markers shift seasonally as the river's channel migrates.
The Slickrun's mouth opens into a relatively calm bay on the western edge of the strait, where the fishing village of Polished Stone has grown up around the pilot trade. The villagers have developed a unique method of "skating" the river using flat-bottomed sledges, riding the current down from the mountains in a fraction of the time it takes to climb back up.