According to Smige's maps, the river she had been following out of Mindfulring went in a long U-bend to the west, coming back around a relatively short distance south, and passed through a bandit camp. As such, she decided that since she was already slightly faster in water than on land, she would benefit from taking the straight path until catching back up with the river. It was to her advantage anyway, as the closest settlement was many miles south, several days travel at the best--a problem exacerbated by her new encumberance. While her iron armor would provide exceptional protection, she was not used to moving in it. (OOC: Having worn 40+ pounds of chainmail, I can attest that, yes, this stuff sucks to run in.)
Heading south, though, gave her the fright of her life. A squad of zombie hippos, covered in a filthy substance raining from the skies to the east. The lake, and the lands to the east of it, were cursed. She went around them to the west, when.....
GIANT DESERT SCORPION!
She knew she couldn't fight it. The scorpion's sting meant instant death, and she doubted her knife could sever the tail. So she ran. Just barely fast enough to evade it in all her armor, thanks to some training against a badger on the way, she knew her only hope for escape was the one place she'd tried to avoid. Taking her chances with the zombie hippos seemed a better plan than messing around with the giant scorpion. She was barely able to make it to the sea, keeping herself out of range, throwing water at the scorpion until finally it succumbed. She got the hell out of there before it rose back up, racing across the desert until she was reasonably certain she was out of range.
That would be the last time she traded stealth for speed. Slow and steady wins the race...
Smige sighed with relief as she made it to the river, happy to see "tame" creatures like alligators. If she hadn't been a professional distance runner, she realized, that might have been the end of her. She headed down the river, tking a breather, resting up, when she saw something perfect. A giant sponge. While technically alive, these beings were all but immobile, and were rumored to be nearly impossible to kill. The perfect training dummy. Smige would not be caught unprepared this time...
(OOC: Except, oddly, attacking a sponge, even when conscious, yields no exp. Given this, and the fact that you can't kill it... well...
)
Then Smige went to sleep, got ambushed by goblins, and died. RIP Smige.