In The Name of the Wind, Kvothe couldn't even do basic Sympathy to light that Fae creature on fire. And when it grabbed him, he wasn't described as shocked or scared, but rather was described as resigned. Then later on Bast warns Chronicler not to ask about what happened and then later tells him at the end of the book that Kvothe has given up and has lost his mojo.

So I think the failure to beat those guys wasn't some trick or embellishment of his fighting prowess, but rather it was just the same thing as the Sympathy failure. He's just a man waiting to die.