Just an FYI that no one has mentioned yet. You NEED to have poison resist meads to survive in the swamp. So if you haven't built fermenters yet to brew meads you need to use some bronze to build a few and gather what ingredients you need for the mead base (also building the cauldron to make the mead base). It can be tedious but without it you'll die to poison quite quickly.

The root armor also provides poison resist but you'll need to survive the swamp long enough to kill several abominations before you can craft it.