Pope re-emergence

[Ludens]

Annoying things can happen though - for example, target Emissary is in Trebizond (no port), description says he's on a mission to get alliance with the Pope, so he's a priority hit. The assassin in Constantinople when instructed. On the following turn, they've swapped places. Normally, when the target moves into the province where the Assassin is coming at them from, they get killed.

I wonder if it would have made a difference if you had first placed the assassin piece in Tebizond and then ordered the assassination. The assassin piece will then stay in Trebizond but will take up the 'mission' posture. Perhaps the program then thinks that the assassin is in Trebizond, so that the he can make an attempt at the emissaries live. I have tried the reverse a couple of times, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I don't know if the Em's active mission status made a difference or if he was a 2-star (I'm sure it was a zero) and somehow eluded my 3-star

I don't think that higher level emisaries have a higher chance of avoiding attack: they already stand a better chance of surviving when the attack takes place, so this would make it extremely difficult to hit hard targets like high level emissaries or inquisitors. There is an escape-mechanism for fleets, but they have a speed stat for this which agents don't, as far as I know.