druthb:

You may want to experiment with the flip/flop operator "..". It basically does the work of your $in_combat logic. It takes a little while to get used to, but it certainly makes the code a bit simpler once you're used to it:

$ cat krunk.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Demo for flip-flop operator
#
use 5.14.0;
use warnings;
use autodie;

while (<DATA>) {
    if (/start/ .. /stop/) {
        # in combat!
        print "COMBAT: $_";
    }
}
__DATA__
soon the combat will begin
start combat!
Biff!  Pow!  Bam!
(Looks like Batman!)
stop combat
fight had three superlatives

$ perl krunk.pl
COMBAT: start combat!
COMBAT: Biff!  Pow!  Bam!
COMBAT: (Looks like Batman!)
COMBAT: stop combat
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...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.