I am just starting on the search for iron in my no-portals, no-map, no-bosses playthrough, and made a nice base (shack really) on a meadows island near a swamp. Currently I pretty much maxed out bronze gear and a suite of troll armor if I need it.

The first time I ventured into the swamp I found a turnip seed plant almost immediately! I also found a mud pile pretty quickly as well, and got a small amount of iron. I thought, this is going to be easy!

The next time I went in, I started digging one spot, then saw some purple coming toward me. A two star elite! I was in my troll gear with a bronze buckler and bronze sword, so I didn't feel ready to take it on mano-a-mano.

I ran out of the swamp, went down the edge a ways and started back in, when I saw purple again. I thought it must be that two star elite, but then I caught sight of more purple coming from where I was previously. Now I have 2 two star elites on my tail!

Long story short, it took forever, picking at them with my bow to finally get rid of them. They never showed up right away, it was always when I was neck deep in a water hole with my stamina running low, so I would take a few shots at them while they chased me or some forest denizen, then I'd limp home.

At one point, when there was only one of them, and I felt pretty strong, I tried to see if I could parry it, or at least block enough so I could hit it with the sword. I don't think I've ever tried that in bronze gear. He ended up knocking me into next week. Luckily, next week was far enough away that I had time to recover and get out of there before he got a good hit on me.

At the end I saw them annihilate a troll that found them before I did, and then agroed one and took him down with my bow while he was hacking a deer. The other one was pretty low on health last I saw it. Maybe he was finished off by a greyling. That would have been nice to see. :-)