ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So,

I just had the star wars event in Gates of Morning with some fighting between town people and the stormtrooper.
Some time later noticed that Melnela was missing (even with Track) and I couldn't get the eight legs of Wonder quest and thus Ardhungol is not accessible.

I did exit in between so I can't check the log, but there do seem to be a correlation.

NPCs can die, correct. This isn't a bug and it can't result in an uncompletable run.