Somewhere deep under Goblin-town, Bilbo slowly wakes up and regains consciousness and finds himself in a dark cavern, lying behind a clump of large mushrooms. He sees the goblin who attacks him and was lying right near him. Thinking that the goblin was dead, Bilbo slowly moves, but noticed that it was still breathing. It was still alive. As the goblin was slowly waking up, Bilbo sees a strange figure approaching the goblin.

"Yes!" The creature growled in delight and spoke in a normal tone. "Yes!" Then he began to make a slithering voice. "Yesss! YESSS! Gollum! Gollum!" He made a croaking sound.

Out of sight behind the mushrooms, Bilbo watches the creature, who calls himself Gollum, circling around the goblin Gollum then begins pulling the goblin away by the feet. Suddenly, the goblin wakes up and begins flailing around. In a fit of rage, Gollum grabs a rock and pounds the goblin on the head with it, knocking it unconscious again. As Bilbo watches in horror, a golden ring falls out of Gollum's loincloth and falls on the floor. Gollum resumes pulling the unconscious goblin away.

"Nasty goblinses." Gollum spat. "Better than old bones, Precious! Better than nothing."

After Gollum dragged the goblin away, Bilbo emerged from his hiding spot and retrieved his sword which was still glowing blue. It meant that the goblin, which Gollum dragged, was not dead yet. By the light of the sword, Bilbo looks down on the ground and sees the Ring on the ground and picks it up. As he examined it, he could hear Gollum crying and moaning at the same time in the distance. Bilbo puts the Ring into his pocket and follows the sound of Gollum's voice.

"AAAAHHH! Too many boneses, Precious!" Gollum cried to himself. "Nothing enough flesh!" Then he growled to himself. "Shut up! Get its skin off." He grunted. "Start with its head." Gollum groaned a lot and then he began to sing a song. "The cold hard lands, they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet. The rocks and stones, they're like old bones, all bare of meat. Cold as death, they have no breath, it's good to eat!" He continued to sing when the goblin groaned. "RAH!"

Rounding a corner, Bilbo sees Gollum silhouetted on top of a rock in the middle of a small lake. Gollum is singing as he beats the goblin's body. He smashes it in the head again with a rock. Seeing the glow of Bilbo's sword, Gollum looks up as Bilbo quickly hides behind a rock in a panic. However, the sword's light starts flickering, and completely dies out, signifying that the goblin was finally dead. Bilbo peeks out from behind the rock to see if Gollum was still busy having his meal. However, in a sight of shock, he noticed that the creature was no longer there. While Bilbo remains hidden, he slowly looks up and finds Gollum on a rock above him and then jumps down in front to face the frightened hobbit.

"Bless us and splash us, precious!" Gollum grinned wickedly in delight. "That's a meaty mouthful." He approached Bilbo and tries to bite him, but Bilbo places the point of his sword on Gollum's throat. "Aaahh." He gagged and did the same croaking sound earlier. "Gollum. Gollum. Ack." Then, the creature retreats slowly away in fear.

"Back. Stay back." Bilbo warned the creature. "I'm warning you, don't come any closer."

"It's got an elfish blade, but it's not an Elfs." Gollum said to himself. "Not an Elfs, no. What is it, Precious? What is it?"

"My name... is Bilbo Baggins." Bilbo said, continuing to his sword in front to defend himself.

"Bagginses?" Gollum asked, looking confused. "What is a Bagginses, Precious?"

"I'm a Hobbit from the Shire." Bilbo explained of where he came from.

"Oh!" Gollum yelped in joy. "We like Goblinses, batses, and fishes, but we hasn't tried Hobbitses before." He approaches him again and thought to himself. "Is it soft? Is it juicy?"

Bilbo olds out his sword in front of him and wildly waves it about. "Now, now, K-keep your distance!" He continued to threaten him. "I'll use this if I have to!"

"WAAAH!" Gollum snarled at Bilbo, causing the hobbit to step back from him.

"I don't want any trouble, do you understand?" Bilbo asked furiously. "Just show me the way to get out of here, and I'll be on my way."

"Why, is it lost?" Gollum asked.

"Yes, yes, and I want to get unlost as soon as possible." Bilbo explained the situation.

Upon hearing this, Gollum answers in a different voice than before. "Ooh! We knows! We knows safe paths for Hobbitses." He said in a happy voice. "Safe paths in the dark." Then he snarled to himself. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything." Bilbo said, confused.

"We wasn't talking to you." Gollum growled at Bilbo and continued to talk to himself. "But yes, we was, Precious, we was."

Bilbo went on to speak. "Look, uh, I don't know what your game is, but I-"

"GAMES?" Gollum exclaimed in excitement when he heard that word. "Oh, we love games, doesn't we, Precious? Does it like games? Does it? Does it? Does it like to play?" He laughed happily

"Maybe?" Bilbo replied as he held his sword in front.

Gollum holds up his hands, then begins reciting a riddle. "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees. Up, up, up it goes, and yet, never grows."

"The mountain." Bilbo answered.

"Yess, yess." Gollum laughed uproariously. "Oh, let's have another one, eh? Yes, come on, do it again, do it—do it again. Ask us." Then he went back to been angry and snarled. "No! No more riddles. Finish him off. Finish him now. Gollum! Gollum!" He croaked, and begins to rush at Bilbo.

"No!" Bilbo exclaimed, raising his his hand to stop him and continues to speak. "No, no, no. I wa—I want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see you are very good at this. S—so, why don't we have a game of riddles? Yes, just, just you and me." He crouches until he is level with Gollum.

"Yes!" Bilbo whispered and nodded his head excitedly. "Yes, just, just—just us."

"Yes. Yes." Bilbo whispered back to him. "And—and if I win, you show me the way out."

"Yes. Yes." Gollum whispered and smarled to himself as he turned away from Bilbo. "And if it loses? What then? Well, if it loses, Precious, we will eats it!" He laughs to himself and turns back to face Bilbo. "If Baggins loses, we eats it whole."

Bilbo paused for several seconds and digests this new information. "Fair enough." He replied quietly as he stands up and puts his sword away while Gollum looks on interestedly.

"Well, Baggins first." Gollum insisted with a nod.

As Bilbo thinks of a riddle, Gollum rests his hands and chin on the edge of a rock.

"Ah thirty white horses on a red hill." Bilbo said his first riddle. "First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."

Gollum thinks, and keeps opening his eyes and mouth as if he knows the answer, then changes his mind. This goes on for several seconds, until he finally replied questioningly. "Teeth?"

Bilbo looked unhappy. "The answer is... correct."

Gollum became ecstatic. "Teeth!" He laughed laughs throatily. "Yes, my Precious. But we—we—we only have nine." He displayed his mouth , showing that he really does only have nine teeth. Then, he begins reciting his next riddle, while getting closer and closer to Bibo. "Our turn. Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters."

Bilbo keeps a large rock between the two of them and takes time to think. "Just a minute." He whispered, walking off and continued to think what the answer was.

"Ooh, ooh! We knows. We knows!" Gollum said excitedly, but growled to himself quietly. "Shut up!"

Bilbo continued to think and observed the water. That was when he noticed tiny waves forming as a breeze ruffles the surface of the water. He finally found the answer. "Wind." He whispered the answer and raised his voice for Gollum to hear. "It's wind! Of course it is."

"Very clever, Hobbitses." Gollum snarls in frustration and begins slinking around, approaching Bilbo. "Very clever."

As he gets too close for comfort, Bilbo pulls out his sword and points it at Gollum again, but also begins saying his own riddle. "Ah, ah, ah, ah. A—a box without hinges, key, o—or, or lid; yet golden treasure inside is hid."

Gollum thinks hard, talking to himself and making many hand motions. "A box...and a lid...and then a key..."

"Well?" Bilbo asked.

"It's nasty. Uh, box, uh..." Gollum continued to think.

"Give up?" Bilbo asked again.

"Give us a chance, precious!" Gollum complained. "Give us a chance!" He grumbled and moaned at the same time. Feeling frustrated, Gollum begins pounding the floor and snarling. He puckers his face up deeply, then suddenly opens his eyes wide as he gets the answer. "Eggses! Eggses!" He laughed in joy. "What crunchy little eggses, yes. Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes."

As Gollum laughed, Bilbo was distracted when he heard the noise of a bat in the darkness. He turned o look for the source of the noise. He turns back around to look back at Gollum, but he realized that the creature was gone.

"Ahh. We have one for you." Gollum echoed around him from different parts of the cave, and begins to speak his riddle from some unknown spot. "All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal. Answer us."

"Give me a moment, please, I gave you a good long while." Bilbo exclaimed and tried to think while at the same time he walks around with his sword drawn, looking for Gollum. "I don't know this one."

"Is it tasty?" Gollum asked, continung to echo all around Bilbo. "Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable?" He appeared behind Bilbo and tries to grab him by the throat, but Bilbo jumps away and points his sword at Gollum.

"Let me think." Bilbo said hastily in a panic. "Let me think."

"It's stuck." Gollum sneered with a grin on his face. "Bagginses is stuck."

Bilbo paces back and forth next to the water, thinking.

Gollum smiles eerily and puts up his hands in a shrug. "Time's up." He begins to shift, and prepares to leap on Bilbo.

"Time. Ti—the answer is time." Bilbo responded.

Gollum snarled in frustration.

"Actually, it wasn't that hard." Bilbo shrugged a bit.

"Last question." Gollum said as he held a rock clutched behind his back with which to hit Bilbo. "Last chance."

"Ah, uh..." Bilbo paused and went on to think of a question.

"Ask us." Gollum smiled sweetly and then roared angrily. "ASK US!"

"Yes, yes, alright." Bilbo said calmly and went on to think as he trolls to the edge of the lake. He absentmindedly rubs his pocket and feels the ring inside. "What have I got in my pocket?"

"That's not fair." Gollum said, looking very disgusted and angry. "It's not fair!" He throws down the rock in frustration. "It's against the rules!

Bilbo made a startled noise when Gollum threw the rock.

"Ask us another one." Gollum demanded and complained.

"No, no, no, no." Bilbo refused and held his sword in front. "You said 'Ask me a question'. Well, that is my question. What have I got in my pocket?"

Gollum jumps off his rock and approaches Bilbo; Bilbo moves to keep a rock between him and Gollum.

"Three guesses, Precious." Gollum snarled. "It must give us three." He holds up two fingers to quantify three.

"Three guesses. Very well, guess away." Bilbo agreed.

"Handses!" Gollum said his first answer.

Bilbo pulls his hand out of his pocket just in time and replied. "Wrong, guess again."

Gollum crouches on the floor, trying to think of the answer. He mutters potential answers to himself and slaps the floor in increasing anger and ferocity as he fails to come up with the right answer. "Fish-bones, goblins' teeth, wet shells, bat's wings ... Knife!" Then he sighed in frustration. "Oh, shut up!"

"Wrong again." Bilbo said. "Last guess."

"String!" Gollum said the last answer. "Or nothing."

"Two guesses at once; wrong both times." Bilbo said.

Upon hearing this, Gollum falls to the floor and begins sob.

"So, come then, I won the game, you promised to show me the way out." Bilbo said, remembering the promise that Gollum made.

"Did we say so, Precious?" Gollum asked himself. "Did we say so?" He slowly turns around and glares hatefully at Bilbo. "What has it got in its pocketses?"

Bilbo points his sword at Gollum. "That's no concern of yours. You lost."

"Lost?" Gollum grins as he slowly approaches Bilbo, planning to kill him. "Lost? Lost?" He reaches for something hidden at his side. Realizing that the item was not there, he grew shocked. He begins groping all over himself trying to find it. Where is it? Where is it? No! Ahh! Where is it? No! No!" Gollum scuttles around the cave, scattering bones and rocks as he searches in vain for the Ring. He even splashes through the shallows of the lake. His voice breaks as he cries out. "Lost! Curses and splashes, my precious is lost!"

While Gollum's back is toward him, Bilbo, realizing what it was that Gollum lost, quickly takes the Ring from his pocket and holds it in his hand behind his back. "What have you lost?" He asked him.

"Mustn't ask us!" Gollum cried. "Not its business! No! Gollum, Gollum." He leans over the edge of the lake, and continued to sob quietly. As he stares into the water, his sobs cease and his face becomes contorted in anger. "What has it got in its nasty little pocketses?"

In fear, Bilbo clutches the Ring behind him more tightly and points his sword at Gollum. Gollum slowly looks up in shock and anger.

"He stole it." Gollum whispered. "He stole it!" His voice suddenly gets louder and louder until he roared and snarled. "HE STOLE IT!" He throws a stone at Bilbo, but Bilbo deflects it with his sword.

Bilbo runs away in fear and Gollum begins to chase him. Bilbo hurries through a cave, fleeing from Gollum, whom we can hear in the distance.

"Give it to us!" Gollum demanded.

Bilbo was in a side cave; he sees Gollum running past the entrance of the cave he is in. Gasping, he turns around and tries to run through a crack in the wall. However, he gets stuck partway through. He looks up in fear as Gollum, attracted by the noise, backtracks and spots Bilbo stuck in the crack. Snarling, Gollum approaches Bilbo.

"It's ours." Gollum snarled. "It's ours!"

Bilbo exhales and pushes as hard as he can. he manages to slip through the crack, but his waistcoat buttons are ripped off in the process and they hit Gollum in the face. On the other side of the crack, Bilbo falls down from his exertions. As he hits the ground, the Ring, which was in his hand, flies into the air. As it descends, Bilbo reaches up to grab it; instead of landing in his hand, however, the Ring slides onto his finger, and Bilbo suddenly becomes invisible.

Gollum jumps into the area where Bilbo is, growling, and looks around for Bilbo; however, since Bilbo is invisible, he doesn't see him, and Gollum continues down the cave. Bilbo, with the Ring on, sees everything as if he's in a different reality. All the colors are muted, and the edges of everything were all blurred and wavy.

"Thief!" Gollum cried. "Baggins!"