In the paq'batlh we have:

{wa'DIch Hegh moratlh} for "first, morath fell".

Suppose now we want to say "we didn't attack them first", meaning "we were not the ones who attacked first".

Based on the paq'batlh example, would it work if we wrote {wa'DIch DIHIvpu'be'}?

I believe in the paq'batlh sentence, wa'DIch isn't so much modifying a verb adverbially as it is acting as a sort of disconnected preamble. Imagine it this way:

wanI' wa'DIch: Hegh moratlh First event: Morath dies.

I have no proof that this is what is happening, but I think it more likely than for ordinals to be considered pure adverbials. That is, I don't think wa'DIch is being used to mean "in the manner of being first." If this is correct, then your proposed sentence doesn't work.

Here's one reason to think I may be right. Elsewhere in paq'batlh we see wa'DIch nach 'ay' / cha'DIch ghIv 'ay' / wejDIch burgh 'ay', etc. These ordinals are acting in exactly the same was as in wa'DIch Hegh moratlh, but they aren't modifying any verbs. They make perfect sense if you think of them as saying: first rite: the form of the head / second rite: the form of the legs and arms / third rite: the form of the stomach, etc.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name