Do Agents Die or Lose Levels

[Lord Moontree.]

I just had a level 14 fanatic fail at stealing an artifact and I lost the agent entirely. I thought they just lost a certain number of levels when failing. Can someone please clarify how this interaction works?

Thanks so much!

[davekuyk]

Sometimes the agent is lost, and sometimes the agent is wounded (or rather, loses part of the team) and loses levels. I don't know what determines which. I assume it is a matter of how badly the agent failed

[uncledarkseid]

I think it helps if he is based at a pop with a thieves guild also