At least your adventurer got to participate in a crowning moment of awesome, even if it was someone else's.
I just picture this peasant, he's never done anything exciting his entire life, never amounted to anything, his highest skill was probably "Legendary +3 Loser".
Then, a psychopath in full steel plate comes charging at him out of nowhere. He hurls his axe through the air, lodging it firmly in the peasant's chest, probably ripping a lung in half.
Lying on the ground, everything starts to go black. Then, suddenly, he opens his eyes, jumps up, and rips the axe out his own torso, causing blood to shoot out of him in several directions. He stands there, blinking his own blood out of his eyes, and looks around.
He sees his assailant standing beside him. He unleashes the most guttural battle cry the attacker had ever heard, and with one hand cleaves the axe into his shoulder, driving it through him as if to cut him in two.
The axe sticks when it makes it to the center of his ribcage, and the adventurer falls down, dead. The peasant falls to legs, choking down his final breathes.
Nearby, a small child watches the entire event in horror. Traumatized, he flees the village, and is eventually picked up by a trade caravan. He winds up in a Dwarven Outpost, where is drafted into the workforce immediately.
He lives a happy, successful life. His crowning achievement- an engraving of an engraving of Urist McVenturer and Urist McPeasant. Urist McPeasant is striking down Urist McVenturer. Urist McVenturer is crying in pain. All the Craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality.