ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

How are you supposed to complete this quest in b19? As soon as you attack the Assassin Lord, all rogues on the level will surround the merchant and kill him in a turn without you having a chance to avoid it.

I didn't experience this myself.

I attacked the Assassin Lord and all the rogues aggrod me ignoring the merchant.

*maybe it bugged on you?*

I've not had this problem either. I find it helps to attack the merchant so he focusses his attention on attacking you ;-)

I think the shortened visual range may be an issue too - if you get out of sights of the bandits they can turn on the merchant instead.

In my case I was a mage and pulled the room with a flame spell from the north western hut.

I had the same issue - they killed him instantly for me.

I stand right in front of the merchant to talk to the Assassin Lord. From there I can usually cut off the rogues from getting next to the merchant.

If you don't have good armor that might not be the best choice of tactics...