Wow, thanks for all the awesome reviews guys! I've been writing like mad to get these updates out on time, and I'm really liking where the story is going. In today's story, our intrepid hero encounters the cuddly Squid and the terrifying Spider Jockey! OOOOoooOOOooo!

At least it did for about an hour, then it started raining. Hard. Still I trudged on, ignoring the thunder and lightning. I walked and walked, until eventually I came to the edge of a small desert just as the sun began setting. The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, so I opened my pack, got out some stone, and made a small stone hut. I went to sleep on the soggy ground, grumbling to myself about how much I hated rain.

As soon as the sun rose, I was out and walking, my make-shift hut abandoned behind me, a couple skeleton bones on the ground and the blood of a creeper explosion splattered on the walls. I walked briskly, making significant progress by noon. I had walked though a sizable desert, a small forest, and a pretty large area of flatland.

When I hit the shore of a lake, I stopped. I could see land in the distance, but it looked too far to swim. In the end I took out my wood and crafting bench, and made a small boat. Nothing fancy, just a seat with small walls and a paddle. I floated across the small lake at a decent speed, my muscles made strong from all that tree punching and stone cutting.

As I floated, I happened to look over the edge. As I gazed into the deep water, a shape appeared in the murk. A cold chill went down my spine. The shape got larger, approaching my boat at an incredible speed. I rowed harder, terror filling my soul. I was almost there when a plume of water erupted next to my boat. I screamed and scrambled for my sword.

I swung my sword wildly, missing completely. I fell back onto the floor of my boat as the waves from the thing lapped against my hull. I eventually summoned the courage or peek over. When I did, I almost fainted from relief. A medium sized squid floated lazily next to my boat, tentacles trailing down into the water. A large, dopey eye stared back at me, an unconcerned look on it's face.

Laughing to myself over my paranoia, I paddled my way to shore. I hit the shore too fast, though, and my boat fell apart, sinking into the water. I sloshed the last few feet, drying off in the sun before continuing.

By the time the sun started to dip towards the horizon, I started feeling cold. This suprised me, since everywhere I had been was comfortably warm. In a few minutes it started snowing. SNOWING! Pretty soon I was ankle deep in snow, plowing my way through the drifts that got in my way. I climbed up a snow covered hill, stopping at the top in shock.

Before me streached a vast frozen lake, the other shore so far away I couldn't even see it. For the moment my searching would have to wait, it seemed. I decided to build a new house and plan my next step. Looking around, I spotted a small grouping of pine trees that seemed to offer some protection from the elements. I ran over, unslinging my pack as I went. Once I made it into the copse of trees, however, I noticed a red glow coming from a hole in the middle of the trees. I peered in and saw...

LAVA! HOLY SHIT!

I carved a quick staircase into the ground and ran down to investigate. Sure enough, there was a small river of lava coming out of the cave wall. I looked around, seeing a couple of tunnels leading farther underground. I thought about setting up shop here, listing the pros and cons against each other. In the end, I decided to stay here for a few days and do some deep mining. I knew from school that gold ore could be found underground, and the thought of new golden weapons excited me (Little did I know. Stupid gold tools and their shit durability)

I blocked off a large corner of the cave, leaving only 1 way in or out, which is where I put my door. When I resurfaced, I saw the sun was setting, so I built a crude wall around the hole, hoping to deter any monsters that may come. I dropped back down to my cave house, and grabbed some torches.

I went deeper into the cave, dropping torches every few dozen feet. The tunnel curved away from the main cavern, ending in a wall of compacted gravel. I backtracked to the main cavern, noticing a hole near the lava. It was too deep to see the bottom, and I couldn't risk jumping into it. I paced for a bit, glancing from the lava to the hole. An idea came to me, a crazy idea, but it sounded like it could work.

I got as close to the lava as I could, carefully mining away the rock under it. As soon as as decent amount of rock was gone, the lava started flowing down into the hole. It gave off enough light that I could see that the hole was actually only a few feet deep, and it angled naturally towards another tunnel. I made my way into the tunnel, dropping more torches. The tunnels went on and on. After a few hours of spelunking, I began making my way back to the cave home. After a half hour, however, I somehow managed to get completely lost.

I began to get worried. None of the tunnels I found seemed familiar, and I kept hearing spiders and skeletons nearby. I had long ago ran out of torches, and was stumbling around in complete darkness. With no light to see, I suddenly fell down a sinkhole, landing hard and spraining my ankle. Laying there in the dark, I saw a dim glow coming from a nearby opening. As I struggled to my feet, I noticed the rock below me was slick with moss.

When I regained my footing, a gust of disgusting smelling air blew past me from the opening. I turned, reaching for my bone sword that wasn't there. A clacking and shrieking echoed towards me, and an abomination came at me.

It was a skeleton RIDING a spider! At least, that's how it looked at first. To my adrenaline fueled brain, time slowed enough for me to see that the skeleton was actually PART of the spider. I clawed my way back up that hole, screaming my voice raw as I went. Arrows stuck into the walls around me, and the horrible shrieking of the spider filled my ears.

Eventually, though I have no memory of it, I made my way back to the tunnels I knew. I stumbled and crawled back to the blessed surface, reaching my home just as the sun began setting. I dropped into my home-made bed of gathered wool, battered and exhausted.

Well, that was scary, wasn't it? Join us next time to see what happens next!