By the end of the forest you should be able to go toe to toe in a troll cave without a lot of worry. That implies fully upgraded armor esp your shield and a fully upgraded weapon. It will do trivial damage when you block and then you can combo it 3-4 hits then block again. Stop to stamina up every third block -- your food should be pretty solid too, of course. Unblocked and weak or near unarmored hits will splat you fast, though.

These misadventures are a good laugh if your head is in the right place. Better than rage quitting etc over it :)