Cave of Trials level one:Heraldic Ruins
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This is a short sort of diary thingy involving the CoT through Ashton's eyes. Each chapter
represents a different level, so it starts off pretty short but gets longer. Some, like level 6
where there is no puzzle whatsoever, I will combine it with level 5/7 or something. Oh btw,
the caracters included are: Ashton(duh), Dias, Claude, Rena and Precis.
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We were at Fun City. We had a rough time with Cyril so we figured, why not go back here to train.
A mysterious old man iscoming up to us after a few fights. He is talking something about
'relieving past memories.' We have no idea what he's talking abouy, but agree anyways. There is a
bright light, and when it fades we are no longer at Fun City Its...Arlia! We're on Expel now!
We walk outside, and our Synard is waiting there for us. We get on, eagerly exploring Expel.
Claude points out a mysterious temple, with a metal door.

We climb off. The temple is huge, and there is much darkness. We step inside and are immediately
met by soldiers in brown armor.They tell us that we are in the Cave of Trials, a dungeon filled
with extremely powerful monsters,which could each be as strong, if not stronger than the Wise
Men. We haven't enough time to askhow they knew about the Wise Men, hoever, because some other
soldiers come up and attack them, accusing them of being traitors. They are outnumbered, and by
the time we reach them to help, they are already dead. The soldiers come after us now,with
tremendous force.

Claude begins to use his Dragon Howl, hurling huge waves of energy at them. Dias is pincered
between two soldiersand is losing stregnth fast. We have our hands full at the moment, so its
hard to help him. Rena comes to his rescue with an Energy Net spell, temporarily stunning them,
giving him enough time to pull off a Firebird Shock Wave, throwing fire shaped like a pheonix
at one. The armor melts,and surprisingly, there is nothing under it!
I, meanwhile, am hacking away at one soldier with my Swords Dance. He parries quite a few of
them, but one gets through to his hand. His sword is knocked up into the air. I toss one of my
own down, grab it, and swing it as hard as I can with it. He is destroyed, not even leaving his
armor. It's as if whatever it touches dissentigrates. We'll have to be careful around them.

As we walk through the cave, we find many treasure chests with many useful things. We meet many
hard monsters, birds who can poison you by shooting you with thier feathers, more knights, this
time with huge shields that they ram you with, and powerful sorcerers. We travel through, and
eventually find a large door. There is a switch next to it. We flip it and the door opens. Inside
is two more soldiers and a lady with wings. She tells us more about the Cave of Trials, and how
there are thirteen levels guarded by fierce warriors and tough puzzles on each floor.

We begin battle, and it appears she wasn't kidding about the 'fierce warrior' part. We destroy
the two guards and begin on her. Dias and Claude play it safe and stay where they are, using
theirAir Slash attacks. I, though, have none, so I am forced to use close-range fighting. I
start by trapping her in a Dead Triangle, an attack in which I clone myself twice, then form a
triagle around her.My swords create a barrier around her. The floor under me starts to shake,
and a coloumn of energy bursts from it inches from my face(s). As it fades, It appears to have
done no damage, so I follow up with a Peircing Sword, throwing my swords like darts at her.
Again, she appears unharmed. I manage to get one of my swords back but she gets the other and
begins to attack furiously. I attack back, but am not doing so good, being skilled with Short
Swords, not just one. I concentrate all I have on my attacks, barely noticing the large gash
created near my shoulder.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she fell to the ground. She starts to fade, but before she
does, she says, "You may have beaten me, but your journey has just begun."

Rena suggests we pitch tent and sleep for a while. Precis agrees to be the lookout as Rena uses
magic to heal my wounds. After we all rested up, taking turns being lookout we begin our descent
into the Cave of Trials.
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End of chapter one. Hope you enjoyed it. Bye now.