That's your answer right there... If you got HEAT of battle message then your EV's attacked them first....
Which part of "the EVs were attacking the spawn" and "the red EQed me" are you not following. The red came up WHILE the EVs were actively attacking spawn. The red was north of where I was, the EVs were busily buried in spawn to the west. They never even so much as moved toward them.
And, even allowing for the argument that they did (they didn't), that basically means a red can run up into the middle of something not even directed at him, stand for a moment, and then, voila, free ticket to kill.
However, in order to better understand this, I went back to look at my journal. There are three people (whose names, respecting Stratics rules, will not be named) who I see during this. One of them comes on screen, seeing my two EVs attacking spawn, goes north of me, casts EQ, followed immediately by Explosion... At that moment, the second person comes up, as I'm taking off. I have a clear "Person 1 is attacking you!" in my log.
Person 2 casts paralyze, person 1 also casts paralyze. Person 3, whom I thought was with them, was actually two minutes later killed by them (and I ressed him on the other side of the exit). Now, person 2 never actually attacks me; person 1 paralyzes me (and yeah, my fault for not having pouches, but I get paralyzed, Explosion, Flamestrike, Pain Spike, Pas Tym An Sanct (no idea which Necro spell this is), but I'm still standing before the last spell hits, and I take off running again.
What's interesting to note in this is the number of "You see: Person 1" and "You see: Person 2" in my logs... meaning, of course, that I was off screen from them, and voila, there they are again. Now, I understand the twists and turns in that long hall could make them reappear, but the issue at hand is, of course, that during these pauses to cast, they appeared right next to me in the matter of an instant.
I'd also say, fine, if they have a better connection, great, but then, they wouldn't be running even speed with me after that, they'd actually be passing me up, which they weren't.
Of course, I then get to the door, and get "Wouldst thou flee during the heat of battle." I also get the unique ability to report Person 1 as a murderer. If I had attacked Person 1 at any time during that, that right would have gone away. It didn't.
I mean, I'm all for getting more people back into the Feluccan ruleset. I enjoy a challenge. But things should damned well better work the way they are supposed to work, and Felucca is not supposed to be a free ticket to do whatever you want without repercussion.