Lucky Bastard

You gather all of your bravery to make a final stance. It is hopeless, but you are a loyal servant of the Queen. What greater honor can there be for a man then to die for his liege!?

The circle of armed men draws closer. All twenty goons are eager to follow the command of the balled one, but all 20 people can impossible encircle a single person, so it is only a question of time until one accidentally shoves another to the side without noticing. That person steps aside, an accidentally stumble against the ceramic oil lamp that dimly lichens the room. The lamp crashes to the floor and extinguishes. Suddenly the room is pitch black.

The man curse aloud. "Fuck" one of them says in a an angry voice "Be careful. Don't let him escape"

"Yes" says another "But also be careful not to attack each other by accident in the dark"

"Indeed" a third concourse " Just keep standing in a tight circle around the spot where he stood and then he should not be able to escape"

"But he is armed himself" the first voice asks angry " That if he attacks one of us?

"Indeed" the third voice concurred again "He is alone and has an advantage in the dark, since he can attack indiscriminately, while we must be careful not to hurt each other"

"Yes" says the second voice "But we would notice the noise immedietly and attack at this point"

"Thats dumb" says the first voice "Then we we are as likely to kill the person that was attacked"

"Indeed" sconces the third voice once more "That would run the idea of not attacking blindly ad absurdum"

"I wouldn't go that far" concedes the first voice "We would only endanger one out of twenty instead of all of us"

"You are all missing the point" says the annoyed voice of the old man "We would still run in danger of attacking each other, since by striking at the same noise from 19 different directions it would still open the possible f striking at each other"

"Indeed" concourse the third voice a fourth time " The way I see it the logical solution would be to let one of us go in the center of the circle and took for the intruder while the others stand with raised weapons around the area in which he was last seen, to prevent him from attacking us."

"idiot" says the first voice "This person would still be in danger of running in one of own weapons.

"Also half of us have clubs" interferes a fourth voice "A raised club is bot the most effective defense in a circular formation"

Despite your situation you find this debate very fascinating. You would have loved to hear the solution for this dilemma. You really would. But then your eyes start to adapt to the dark. You notice a weak source of light above you. You raise your head and notice a man sized opening in the clay roof. Your course of actions at this point is obvious