Free Kender, Gully Dwarves, Gnomes by Various

unlikely dwarven friend were more than the shopkeeper wanted
     to face. Hadn't they changed the irascible but harmless old hermit into a fearsome
     sorcerer with a more dangerous temper? Hadn't the elf somehow healed the dwarf's failing
     vision with the enchanted spectacles perched upon Lodston's huge nose?
    “Well, bring it as soon as you get your cart fixed,” growled the dwarf as he turned to
     leave Martin's shop. “Just remember what I said about the door, if you value your life!”
    “I know, I know!” the man mumbled. “You and the elf have placed a curse on it. No thief in
     his right mind would try to steal anything from you or your new 'friend.' ”
    Lodston smirked behind his whiskers and stepped through the doorway onto the street. The
     curious little glasses perched on his thick nose sparkled in the late morning sun. The
     bully, Joss, interrupted a conspiratorial discussion with a pair of teenaged pickpockets
     and muttered a hasty warning. The unscrupulous trio darted into the shadows, away from
     Lodston's path. The hermit scowled in their direction, wishing he had a suitably
     vindictive spell to cast upon the fleeing threesome.
    I've used all the scrolls I understand, he mused on his way home. I guess I'll just have
     to take a chance on a strange one, if I mean to keep these human clods on their toes.
    When he reached the mine, Lodston headed immediately for the chest. He had already used
     all of the “fun” and “attack” spells and was ready to risk reading one or two incantations
     in his “unknown” category in order to strengthen his image in Digfel as a dangerous
     sorcerer. The
    hermit unrolled the first scroll he found with four black marks and began to read it.
    HAPGAMMITON'S MODE OF INTERPLANAR GATING
    TO SUMMON OTHER INTELLIGENCES RESIDING ON OTHER PLANES OF EXISTENCE, IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR
     THE CASTER TO PREPARE HIMSELF FOR FIVE CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS PRIOR TO UTTERING THE
     INCANTATION. FAILURE TO PURIFY HIMSELF BEFOREHAND WILL RENDER THE INCANTATION EITHER
     POWERLESS OR UNPREDICT ABLE.
    Bah! I already knew it was unpredictable! Lodston thought. The worst that can come of it
     is that it'll fail. In that case, I can just pick another one. Undaunted, the amateur
     wizard skipped the rest of the page and began reading the ancient words at the bottom of
     the parchment.
    His pronunciation and understanding of the forgotten elvish dialect had grown more
     accurate with each reading of Dalamar's scroll's. This time, his dwarven accents had
     dwindled to a mere trace, as had much of his original personality before it was dominated
     by the dark elf's spells and robe. Lodston intoned the ancient words perfectly, letting
     the scroll's dweomer fuse with the vestiges of Dalamar's power within his mind and body.
    MARGASH JORAS NOLLEN GRATH GRISSIT DORSI, GRISSIT BLUDE;
    ITEL FOMA DRILID SHUDE; MARGASH NEPPS U HALLEM GRATH!
    OBEY THESE WORDS OF POWER
    WATCHERS OF THE THRESHOLD, WATCHERS AT THE GATE,
    UNBAR THE GUARDED DOOR;
    OBEY THE COMMAND OF THIS SERVANT OF POWER!
    Beneath the dwarf's feet, the firm rock floor seemed to quiver as he spoke the final
     spellwords. Lodston's untrained concentration shattered completely when a thin stream of
    opaque light seemed to slice through both floor and ceiling of his sturdy artificial cave.
     The frightened hermit collapsed in a babbling heap on the floor, shielding his face from
     the intensifying light.
    Suddenly the beam began to split, as if a doorway were opening onto a new yet darker
     dimension. Peering through his trembling fingers, Lodston saw moving forms just inside the
     opening, monstrous forms with scaly appendages and tentacles writhing and lurching toward
     the threshold produced by Dalamar's scroll.
    The dwarf began to moan and crawled toward the door. Just as he was reaching for the bar,
     the stout wooden timbers exploded from some terrible force on the outside. The blast drove
     scores of thick splinters