Floating Nose bribe timing

[DeadManWaltzing]

Hey guys, hoping someone can resolve a dispute amongst my flat for me:

I've searched around the forums for an answer and found that the Floating Nose can be bribed at any time, however my flat dispute something that happened in one of our games. What happened was this:

Initially, I kicked open the door and encountered the floating nose, which I could beat so my initial intention was to fight it but then my friends buffed him up so he was going to beat me. In response, I then buffed myself up to exceed his level but then someone else buffed the nose up again, at which point I elected to bribe him but my friends disputed that I could do this, their argument being that I had already decided to fight him - however, my argument was that the combat had not resolved so I could still elect not to fight him regardless of all the buffing that had occurred. Any help to shine light on this and prevent flat wars would be greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks,

DMW x