ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

My level 25 berserker was on the 5th level of Dreadfell, pillaging a vault, when he ran out of carry capability. (He tends to store all artifacts in the fortress, and is stockpiling tier 4 and 5 items for the time when he will be able to extract the gems the gems)

I came back, and I got an escort quest. No, I did not get it the first time around. What is worse, the portal is inside the (not yet fully cleared) vault.

Is this a bug, or working as designed? Should I go back to the other levels where I found vaults, so that I get more escort quests?

Wrong thread. Sorry.

Vault on a level doesn't give more chances for escorts.it happens when playing the escort is not possible iirc.
Dreadfell especially is notorious for doing that but can happen elsewhere. If you're missing escorts it's a good practice to redo the levels on escort dungeons.

If the path from the stairs to the portal is blocked by something like a closed door, the escort event won't trigger.