Written by Thrisa Catrisa- Priestess of Savras.

Seeking the truth can be as difficult as fighting a dragon, the truth is often elusive in this realm, where much of what we know is biased opinion, or half truths. The truth is intent, with supporting evidence. Did the suspect truly kill this man, or was he merely at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Author's Note: This cannot be applied to all situations. It is merely a general outline of the process of investigation, it is usually extremely tedious, and potentially can take years. Divinations can be blocked, and information altered or changed. The Future is often Misty, and hard to discern. The past is absolute, and almost nothing potentially could change what transpired.

In the case of the criminal, he says he has done nothing wrong, except he was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time. The man, is lying in the alleyway with a dagger sticking from his throat, the man simply stumbled upon the scene, and reported it to the authorities, or so he claims. The first rule of criminal investigation is that the first suspect is the person who reported the crime, in the hopes of misleading the grateful authority into believing he has done no ill. He will probably even go into a descriptive length of the person he thought he saw did it, probably a personal foe, or someone he is seeking false vengeance on. Also, eye witness accounts are notoriously unreliable, they tend to vary from person to person, sometimes even by large measures. This is especially true in the darkness.

The first step in criminal investigation is to document the victim's name, affiliations, specialization, every detail about his personal life could be a clue. Finding out what he did for a living can usually be discerned by what he wore, callus's on his hands and feet, and general physical make up. The second step is to document eye witness accounts to the scene, what time was it, what was the murderer dressed up as, what kind of weaponry did he use, was there any distinguishing features on the assailant? Every detail could be useful for future reference. The crime scene should be sealed off, and the body then removed for further examination by a coroner.

Often times, criminal investigations lead to no where at this point.. If it is a professional killing, then seeking the truth of who did it can become ridiculously hard, and soon could become detrimental to any other ongoing investigations. However, if you do get leads, they should be pursued.

The second step of any investigation is to detail suspects, and speak to family members, and friends about his personal life. How much he made, did he have enemies? Often times if they wish to keep secrets, they will mislead you, and direct you to false sources of information. However, should they be honest with you, it should soon be easy to identify your suspects, and see which ones are guilty. Having a priest, or priestess on hand to cast a spell to detect lies, will be useful here. Do not out right accuse them, ask them where they were, at what time, what were they wearing. If they are the assailant, they will begin to get nervous, stuttering, and more.

Admission, this, I find, is usually the easiest, or hardest part of any investigation. If evidence points to the suspect in question, he will either deny it, or admit to it. Giving him options of less prison time or, exile are suitable in this situation to convince him to admit the truth of his nefarious deeds. Seekers of truth should not be concerned about Justice, merely the knowledge of what has transpired is known to all.

Note: be wary of corruption of evidence, and misleading words when investigations. Evidence should be kept under lock and key, and anyone other than the investigator touching it could harm your investigation.

Methods such as torture, intimidation, and bribery can be unreliable in the discovery of truth, however, this should be left up to seeker of truth to what methods he should employ.

Thrisa Catrisa.