i build forts and paths between forts, and bonfires along the paths, and walls near the bonfires, and stakes around the walls, and then i go into a crypt and get the iron and nobody bothers me

no seriously i get close to the swamp and start building, and then from there i build INTO the swamp until the swamp feels like home, and then i just take the iron out of my swamp

p.s. fire arrows burn for a little while after they hit something like a tree and cast some light around them.. you can shoot several fire arrows before the first one burns out.. burning wraiths also cast light if it's dark..