I decided adventure mode was not hardcore enough for me, so I decided to increase difficulty a bit.
First, I increased megabeast/nightbeast/demon numbers to the very top. Then I changed the temperature range to -200/0, so that, on the polar regions of the world, people would die just from being outside. Mind you, this world is so difficult that all of my fortress died on the first year, due to incessant ogre/megabeast attacks, and also once I left all the booze outside, then the barrels disintegrated from the cold. It was not pretty.
Anyways, I started as a demigod crossbowman. My first quest was to kill the groom of a night troll, or something like that. I entered the creature's lair, in the middle of a terrifying tundra. I had thirty bolts and five carving knives I had found on the floor. The beast faced me: a large eyeless humanoid that stamped the ground. I fired at it, but only hit the arms. I ran away, and it ran after me. Every few steps, I'd stop to shoot it a few times, but despite having both lungs and the throat punctured, the beast seemed not to slow down. I had ran out of bolts, so I started throwing everything I had at it, until I had only a single carving knife left. The beast seemed unphased, so I just shrugged and sat there, waiting for my death.
Then all of a sudden, a lion popped out of nowhere and bit the thing's arms off. Whut.
I just stood there and watched while the lion litterally ripped the monster apart. When it had finished, there were body parts scattered all around over 10 tiles away from the monster's body. Then it turned to attack me. I realized that this time it really was the end, but I might as well fight a bit. So I grabbed the carving knife, aimed at Ultratoe (the lion had been named after killing the monster) and threw it. With no throwing skill whatsoever.
I hit it straight in the lower body, and the lion's guts exploded all over the place. It crawled two more squares in my direction, and died. At that moment, I had to stop playing DF and go drink something. I decided that my crossbowman was probably the most awesome guy ever, and that we would battle together for years and years to come.
Two in-game days later, a demon kicked my skull through my brain.