Bilbo groggily wakes up after hitting his head, and pulled out his elven sword, using it to light his way through the tunnels, and he finds a metal ring lying on the floor, which he puts into his pocket. He comes to a body of water. He deduces that it is a lake and is afraid to go any further, but he meets a creature named Gollum, who agrees to play a game of riddles. If Bilbo wins he will be shown the way out but if Gollum wins Bilbo is his next meal/ Bilbo finally stumps Gollum with, "what is in my pocket." Unfortunately Gollum discovers his ring is gone and chases after Bilbo, who puts it on and falls down, invisible. He then follows Gollum and leaps over him, then avoides the goblins and escapes, meeting up with the dwarves. They continue on their journey, until a rockslide knocks them off their path. They come upon a clearing where wolves meet, climb the trees to avoid them, then when all seems lost, the eagles rescue them.
This is an important step in the Hero's Journey for Bilbo, because he finally is able to do something for himself. You could argue that the magical ring saves him, but he still found it and had enough sense to put it on. Gandalf, his mentor, has taught him enough skills for him to defeat Gollum in a battle of wits, which is difficult to do, especially when your life is on the line. He even steathily followed Gollum and leaped over him to escape. This all shows how far Bilbo has come, from a screaming idiot to a steathly thief.
Where does Gollum come from? With all of the other characters, their history is explained, unless they are generic like trolls or goblins, and even then he still devotes a page to describing them. He could do an interesting backstory for Gollum and the ring. How did he find it? Why is he so bipolar? Was he always like this? Too many questions and Tolkien doesn't provide answers to any. I sincerely hope he continues with this idea in The Lord of the Rings.
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