Be happy only caves are bugged now. Years ago every NPC waited 30 seconds or more if they did not see you but combat was on. Now they skip turn.Just +requesthelp, wait 20 minutes, JovankaB will kill the scorpions and you're done
It's not just caves, if i get surrounded by ants or something in a random encounter i have to wait for each additional npc that can't get an attack in.
Perhaps give all NPCs rocks in their inventory.....A temporary fix.
+1, Sounds like it would work to, considering all of the times this has happened to me, its been a melee npc. Though a swarm of ants (and a few of you know how big those swarms can get ) flinging rocks willy-nilly is a little scary.