lips the ring upon his finger and disappears. He follows Gollum stealthily toward the entrance to the outside world. He then bounds over Gollum's head to freedom. Outside he is reunited with his dwarf friends. Later they encounter Wargs (large savage wolves).The Wargs chase the party into the trees. High in the branches Gandalf uses a spell to turn the pine cones a fire, in order to drive the wolves away. However the plan backfires and the very trees they took refuge in are now ablaze!Luckily for them the king of the eagles spotted them. He and his eagles swooped out of the sky and whisked our adventures to safety. The eagles dropped them off near Mirkwood Forest. This is where they come across Beorn, a bear like man who can indeed change into a bear. He puts them up for the night and outfits them with supplies for their trip into Mirkwood. He also warns them not to stray from the path in the forest.When they are ready to enter the forest, Gandalf announces he will not be accompanying them in this part of the journey. The group feels lost without him but yet they press on.They come across a black river. It is here that Bombur, one of the Dwarves falls in and is thrust into a sleep from which he cannot awake. Food is scarce now and the hungry travelers are lured off the path by visions of elves feasting in the forest. To their surprise every time they announce their presence to the elves...they elves vanish!Once again Bilbo finds himself separated from the group. He stops for a short nap and awakes to find himself tied down by a giant spider. He uses his sword to cut himself free. He then attacks the spider and kills it. Feeling proud of his deed, he decides to name his sword "Sting".Bilbo finds his friends deep within the forest. They too were captured by spiders, but did not have the good fortune of escaping. Bilbo puts on his magic ring and implements a plan to rescue his companions. It is a success and t he party (once again) gets ou...
