Public Domain Sunday?

This is a group you would definitely not want to run into on a stormy night. As I've said previously, one of the reasons I like these public domain images is that they provide great ideas for encounters or even entire adventures. Here is the idea for an encounter that came from this excellent drawing:

You decide to push on through the storm, despite the fact that your are getting soaked to the bone. The occasional lighting strike allows you to find your way through the forest, only wandering off of the road a few times. Eventually, the trees start to thin out and you start to see signs of cultivation. With the loss of the trees, however, you have no shelter from the rain. You draw your cloak tightly around your body and press on. Suddenly up ahead you see lights. The village must be just ahead! You quicken your pace, mind racing with thoughts of a warm fire, hot stew, and cold ale. But then a group of men appears in front of you. They had been hiding on either side of the road. They are dressed like simple farmers and carry tools. The manner that they are holding their farming implements, however, tells you that they are not out working the field. The man in front has a look in his eyes that you have seen before, always before you've had to kill someone. The group begins to advance toward you. Do you attack the mob before they can strike first, raise your weapon and threaten them, raise your empty hands and greet them cordially, or run back to the forest?