Bah. The classic single arrow from the single archer getting through. Goblin camp; knowing how annoying they are, i snuck up on the archers, trying to take them out before battling the rest honourably, but the second-to-last spotted me. So after killing him i retreated, hopefully out of the remaining archer's range. Well, he followed enough to get a shot in, which caused a broken skull, which caused so much pain my speed was reduced to about 1/3, apparently along with my actual combat ability, so the legendary+10 hammergobbo could beat me down. Yay. Well, at least i accomplished what i had set out for - built a character on kicking as main attack and reached legendary in the skill.
I find that currently, adventure mode is practically unplayable without grinding (getting killed by your first or second encounter isn't much fun) and even with grinding, handling archers in a straightforward fashion (i.e. without the overpowered sneaking) is annoyingly risky, since a single hit in any body part seems to have about 2/3 chance of causing your death through demolishing your speed and ability to defend yourself; there are some wrestling tricks you can use in a pinch, but if your opponent is a legendary goblin fighter, you won't be able to establish a hold when suffering from debilitating pain.