Ok, I know I've asked about this topic before, but I've just had a rather confusing experience. I was ranking in Darsylon with my group and as we step onto the mountain trail, I notice an assassin hiding in the weeds there. I figure he's stalking one of my group, so I inform them and they start to fog but don't get him with it. A chase ensues as we chase him around the mountain trail, in and out of darsylon, across the trail again, onto West loke road, into the construction sight, back onto the road, into the sight, back to the mountains, and back and forth on the trail a few more times. All this time, he never gets fogged, but he's moving through the wilderness constantly to avoid us. Finally we step back into darsylon just a moment after him, and he assassinates my group member.

Now what I don't understand is how he maintained any benefit from his stalks with all that moving around in the wilderness, where he can't move without stepping out of the shadows. Even if he had the smoke and mirrors edge and vanished around til he hit the edges of each area, you still step out when you vanish, you just hide again right away. Could someone please explain to me how this works?

Did he simply get lucky and manage to land a no-stalk assassinate?

Other people have given you some extra information, but FYI, you cannot land a no-stalk assassinate.

If you know an assassin is on you and you can't force him out of hiding, the smart thing to do would be to try to get someplace he can't hide or try to lose him entirely.

you can move on the path without stepping out. He never had to step out of the shadows once. Your misunderstanding of the terrain got your groupmate killed.

Not sure if it's who or where that matters (or both) in this, but if your groupmate wasn't paying attention then it wouldn't matter how many times the assassin stepped out. "Knowing" he's there isn't good enough, if the individual isn't the one that catches him visible.