My apologies for the delay...

A murky, foul-smelling swamp... certainly not a place one would want to approach.
For Coai, it was merely a place to be passed through.
There was no need to get close, but it was a place that had to be crossed one way or another.

Before the swamp... the air smelled of earth, and faintly of something raw.
Coai stopped for a moment in the damp forest and looked around.
Ahead, to the right, and to the left... all seemed to be swamp or marshland. As far as she could see, there was no solid-looking ground.
At most, she could only see exposed tree roots or patches covered in grass, leaves, and moss.

It was now sometime between late afternoon and early evening; straight ahead should be almost due south.
There was no guarantee she could avoid the swamp even by taking a detour. It would be a problem if she lost her sense of direction by focusing too much on circumventing it.
In that case, perhaps one option was to just push straight through to the south... yes.
Now, what to do...

Or so she had intended to think... but Coai had already stepped straight ahead, into the mire.
Perhaps she felt that the time spent hesitating was a waste.
As she proceeded, paying attention to her slipping footing, a clump of withered leaves caught her eye.

Leaves... fallen in such a large clump...?

Coai felt something was off about the pile of fallen leaves at her feet, but... she continued walking forward anyway.
It lacked the firmness to be stepped on, to bear her weight.

In an instant, the layer of leaves she stepped on sank!
Feeling that, she immediately took another step into the mire ahead... but that spot also sank, pulling her down!