As a part of a family of poor villagers, you've never had much to treasure. Most of your time is spent cultivating food in your small village on the island of Velkim. When you're not busy with your family bringing in enough food to survive, you're helping other villagers with important work or repairs. One day, as you were helping the village's blacksmith, he told you that he once made a sword for your late father—but that it was lost in the swamps to the north of your village. You remember your father coming back from that expedition a few years ago, distraught for a reason he wouldn't acknowledge.
Now it all makes sense. Your father lost his sword in those swamps—a unique gift given to him by the village for his years of service to the people—and was never able to recover it. After the blacksmith told you all this, you went to your mother about it, who was actually able to tell you where in the swamps your father lost the sword—courtesy of his own words. That's what has you here.
That's what has you knee-deep in what feels like a special circle of hell made entirely out of mud. The wretched bog is hotter than it has any right to be under all the gnarled trees casting shade over the water and mud-banks. The thick haze of steam and humidity makes visibility a joke—not to mention how awfully it makes you sweat. You feel absolutely disgusting out here, but you press forward through the tropical marsh in the hopes that you're getting closer to that lost sword.
It's as you're trudging through another deep part of the swamp that you hear a pronounced squishing sound emanate from behind you. It's like a thick, wet slap impacting on a hard surface, and you immediately freeze in place out of fear. You're about to build up the courage to face the noise when you're tackled from behind by something moving very fast.
The impact is heavy, sticky, and messy. As you're thrown onto slightly more solid ground, you tumble over to witness your assailant—a Mucus Toad.