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i_read_what2020-11-15 10:54 pm
kalinara) wrote in i_read_what2020-11-15 10:54 pm
The Halfling's Gem - Chapter 3
So last time, we accompanied Artemis Entreri and Regis on their sea voyage. Entreri seems to be slipping a bit too far into the infallible villain cliche, but Regis has a plan that might just work. We'll see how that goes.
So anyway, Drizzt and Wulfgar have found the farms that Malchor told them about. Wulfgar, being Wulfgar, wants to head straight in, but Drizzt stops him:
"These are a simple folk," the drow explained. "Farmers living in the webs of countless superstitions. They would not welcome a dark elf. Let us enter at night."
...I feel like it might go worse if they catch you trying to enter in at night, dude.
Wulfgar suggests they try to find the path without help, since he doesn't want to lose time. But Drizzt points out that they'd likely get lost.
...here's a thought. If they just need directions, why doesn't Wulfgar go alone and Drizzt wait out of sight? Then they won't scare the townfolk AND they won't lose time. Also, they could actually attack the banshee during daylight.
But if they did that, Drizzt wouldn't get this badass boast:
"Her time, the night," Wulfgar remarked, remembering Malchor's words about the banshee.
Drizzt's smile widened across his face. "Not this night," he whispered.
OR you could attack during the day, when she's weak? Okay. Whatever. They sleep peacefully during the day. Because apparently none of the farm folk ever have reason to go outside. But, we're told, "when dusk crept over the land, Neverwinter Wood took on a very different aura. Gloom settled all too comfortably under the wood's thick boughs and a sudden hush descended on the trees, the uneasy quiet of poised danger."
...I admit, sometimes Salvatore really does have a way with description.
So they go to the farmhouse, where they're confronted by a voice from the rooftops. Archers, who want them to state their business. Drizzt and Wulfgar note that these guys are actually pretty ready for defense.
Somehow they identify Drizzt as an elf without seeing him clearly. They scoff when Drizzt says they've got a fight with a common foe. Things get very interesting when Drizzt claims that a friend of his was slain nearby. This causes an old woman to come out and demand to know what they want with "the ghost in the wood."
The archers join in with unexpected cries to "Go away!" and "leave Agatha be!"
...this might be the first time in these books that I'm legitimately surprised by a story beat. Okay. You've got me intrigued.
Wulfgar thinks the people might be enchanted, but Drizzt notices something else. I'd groan about this being an example of Drizzt being OH SO wise, but this actually works. Drizzt is a drow elf whose been at least tentatively accepted by the people of the Ten Towns after all. It makes sense that he'd recognize when someone else is in a similar situation.
He claims that he'd heard this Agatha was evil, but asks if he's heard wrong. After all, if good folk are willing to defend her.
"Bah, evil! What be evil?" snapped the old woman, thrusting her wrinkled face and shell of a body closer to Wulfgar. The barbarian took a prudent step back, though the woman's bent frame barely reached his navel.
"The ghost defends her home," added the man at the corner. "And woe to those who go there!"
"Woe!" screamed the old woman, pushing closer still and poking a bony finger into Wulfgar's huge chest.
Things go bad pretty quickly, as Wulfgar scares the woman off with a threatening gesture, and the farmers attack. Drizzt dodges an arrow easily, while Wulfgar catches some guy who had the balls to try to leap on top of him. He holds him in the air, while Drizzt subdues the others with his scimitar. And of course, they can definitely see he's a drow NOW. And of course, they're terrified.
Drizzt tells them that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding, sheathes his scimitars and has Wulfgar gently lower the man. The little old woman comes out again, sheepish this time, pleading with them not to kill "poor Agatha."
The cowering man in the corner, "his voice quaking with each syllable" urges that Agatha is no harm beyond her own door.
Aw. This is actually really touching. These are normal people. Peasant class NPCs! They don't even have the combat ability of the people in Ten Towns. They're scared out of their mind. But they're still trying to protect their friend.
At Drizzt's glance, Wulfgar reassures them that while they'll visit Agatha and "settle [their] business with her", they won't harm her. It takes a bit more scary play-acting, but the farmers finally tell them the path.
We get a suitably dramatic farewell:
"Farewell, Conyberry," Drizzt said politely, bowing low. "Would that we could remain a while and dispel your fears of us, but we have much to do and a long road ahead." He and Wulfgar hopped into their saddles and spun their mounts away.
"But wait!" the old woman called after them. Their mounts reared as Drizzt and Wulfgar looked back over their shoulders. "Tell us, ye fearless - or ye stupidwarriors," she implored them, "who might ye be?"
"Wulfgar, son of Beornegar!" the barbarian shouted back, trying to keep an air of humility, though his chest puffed out in pride. "And Drizzt Do'Urden!"
The farmers actually recognize those names. Which means that MAYBE this all could have been avoided if they just came at daylight? Drizzt is a bit uneasy about being recognized though, since Artemis Entreri is probably "looking back for them", but sees Wulfgar's smile and decides to let him have this moment.
After they leave, Wulfgar and Drizzt discuss the village. Wulfgar's puzzled. These people didn't seem evil, but they protect the banshee. Well, dude, you are traveling with a drow?
Drizzt thinks that they're legit. He has a theory about why they're so attached to her. Conyberry is a very ordinary village, but it has some infamy for having "the ghost of Neverwinter Wood". This also comes with a certain amount of protection, since bandits and other sorts are less likely to want to mess with a haunted village.
I mean, it could also be that Agatha is as good a person as Drizzt himself? Why does this possibility not occur to anyone?
Wulfgar asks if Drizzt intends to kill "the thing". I like this question, because Wulfgar is a lot more practical than he's often given credit for. Drizzt says "only if we must". They're only here for the mask, after all, and they did give their word.
Wulfgar points out that Agatha might not willingly hand over her treasures.
This is where the alignment system of this game gets a little dicey. Because assuming Agatha is a sentient being, and it sounds like she is. Then our heroes are basically planning to extort and rob her. Possibly even kill her.
It's like the encounter with Whisper in Streams of Silver, where presumably, we were supposed to side with Bruenor and Drizzt when Whisper tried to change the terms of their agreement. But it was her map! And she had every right to decide she didn't want to be involved when she understood more about the risk!
Agatha might be a monster, and Whisper might not be a nice person, but they shouldn't have to hand over their belongings just because our heroes ask for them. And in Agatha's case, no one's even suggesting they BUY the mask from her. Or at least trade! Maybe she'd like a glowy scimitar!
ANYWAY, they continue through the woods, which are creepy and foreboding. More good descriptions though. Drizzt ends up using Twinkle as a light source. Eventually, he pulls a candle from his belt and breaks it in half, handing a piece to Wulfgar with the instructions to block his ears.
...how is that supposed to work???
Anyway, they reach Agatha's home: it's a dome of branches. A cave of trees. There's a small hole for an entrance, just large enough for a man to crawl through. Wulfgar decides to open a bigger door. Drizzt is uneasy about this, but admits that he doesn't have any better ideas.
Drizzt is of course vindicated, because Wulfgar's hammer strike shatters the dome. He's immediately entangled with vines. Drizzt attacks with his scimitar and slices through the bonds.
Agatha is pretty upset, and it's hard to blame her! She wails, and the candle wax is not very much protection. The men are staggered and dazed. Agatha comes out to attack, aided by a mirror image effect:
Suddenly Drizzt was confronted on more than twenty fronts by the twisted visage of a long-dead elven maiden, her skin withered and stretched along her hollowed face and her eyes bereft of color or any spark of life.
But those orbs could see - more clearly than any other in this deceptive maze. And Drizzt understood that Agatha knew exactly where he was. She waved her arms in circular motions and smirked at her intended victim.
I'm #TeamAgatha here. You guys are mean.
Anyway, Drizzt calls down a globe of darkness. She attacks with a lightning bolt. This rouses Wulfgar, who starts crawling through the low entrance. His defenselessness attracts Agatha's attention. Drizzt uses a handful of dirt and tosses it at all of the mirror images, who react the same way. While Agatha spits out dirt, her spell is disrupted.
Wulfgar gets up and starts smashing holes in things. At one point, he breaks a mirror and half of the mirror images disappear. Behind it is poor Agatha's treasure room. She wails again, but the guys are ready. Drizzt runs in and starts scooping up baubles and gold into a sack. Hey, you were here for ONE thing, dude!
And indeed:
His sack nearly full, Drizzt was about to turn and flee when one other item caught his eye.
He had been almost relieved that he hadn't found it, and a big part of him wished that it wasn't here, that such an item did not exist. Yet here it lay, an unremarkable mask of bland features, with a single cord to hold it in place over a wearer's face. Drizzt knew that, as plain as it seemed, it must be the item Malchor had spoken of, and if he had any thoughts of ignoring it now, they were quickly gone. Regis needed him, and to get to Regis quickly, Drizzt needed the mask. Still, the drow could not belay his sigh when he lifted it from the treasure hoard, sensing its tingling power. Without another thought, he put it in his sack.
...I seriously don't get the angst about this. I mean, yes, it does suck that Drizzt has to use a disguise to travel on the surface. But considering that you're robbing this woman simply because she's a banshee, without even trying to talk with her first, I have very little sympathy.
We're told that "Agatha would not so easily surrender her treasures", and well, why should she?! You're stealing her stuff! Maybe SHE has use for that mask! And certainly you don't have any right to her gold!
You could have made this a little more morally ambiguous, Salvatore. You could have had Agatha attack them first. You could have had them try to ASK Agatha for her help only to be denied and have her react in anger. Instead, you had them break her home and ambush her and steal her stuff. And when you tell me about how Drizzt is parrying away her frantic blows, I find it difficult to see how he's any different than the men who would have attacked HIM.
This would be really clever, actually, if I thought Salvatore would actually address that Drizzt has jumped to conclusions about Agatha in the same way that people jump to conclusions about him, and has used this as an excuse to treat her brutally. But I think I'm going to be disappointed.
Wulfgar, by the way, wants to help, but he hasn't figured out the pattern of the illusory images yet, like Drizzt has (of course), so he's stuck.
Meanwhile:
Effortlessly Drizzt danced around the crazed banshee and backed her up toward the treasure room. He could have struck her several times, but he had given his word to the farmers of Conyberry.
What. A. Hero.
So Drizzt eventually drives her back, causing her to trip over her broken mirror. Then he runs for it. Wulfgar, meanwhile, has figured out the trick of the dome and readies himself for a killing throw, but
"Let it end!" Drizzt shouted at him as he passed, slapping Wulfgar on the backside with the flat of Twinkle to remind him of their mission and their promise.
I really don't think you have the moral high ground here, you asshole.
Okay, I admit though, this did make me chuckle a bit:
"Pardon our intrusion," he said politely, bowing low - low enough to follow his friend outside to safety. He sprinted along the dark path to catch up to Twinkle's blue glow.
Dick. But at least an amusing one. Agatha gets a bit of her own back by hitting him with one last keen, slamming him into a tree. Drizzt of course, is fine. They flee, while she wails helplessly.
Our heroes, everyone.
The chapter ends with a little tag at the village. They hear the banshee's cries and chuckle a bit, thinking she's won. But the old woman notices the shift in her tone and realizes, no, she's lost. They beat her and got away.
Everyone's very impressed and will remember their names. Hmph.
And I'm really frustrated, because this COULD have been a really interesting teaching moment that Drizzt completely ignored.
The series would have us look at Drizzt as the victim of terrible prejudice, and that it's a tragedy that he has to hide himself to deal with others. Okay. Let's go with that a moment.
Agatha is in EXACTLY the same position here! She's a member of a species that is always evil. Just like the drow. She's somehow managed to make friends with these villagers, just like Drizzt did with the Ten Towns. She keeps to herself a ways away, JUST like Drizzt and his cave. The only people she hurts are the ones who invade her lair, and it certainly sounds like it's damn difficult to find said lair by accident. So basically, she kills people who are there to kill her.
How is she worse than Drizzt then?
How is she less deserving of respect than Drizzt?
Our heroes never bothered to ask these villagers how the relationship came about. They basically just made up a reason of convenience. Agatha's presence as a "ghost" brings the village fame and protection. It has nothing to do with Agatha as a person, so they don't have to treat her like one.
But the old woman pleaded for her life. The terrified archer's voice shook when he tried to defend her. To me, that sounds like more than convenience.
But even if it WAS just convenience. Our heroes didn't even TRY to talk to her. They didn't offer to buy the item from her. They didn't even try to sneak in and steal her stuff without significantly disturbing her! They broke her house! Drizzt robbed her! Not just of the magic item that he claims to need, but he just fills up a sack of her stuff!
How would Drizzt have felt if someone went to his cave and swooped up Guenhwyvar because they needed her more?!
Ultimately, that's the biggest problem with the series right now. We're supposed to empathize with Drizzt, and for the most part we do! I may not think the drow are a good metaphor for racism, but I can still appreciate that his situation objectively sucks. He's the one good member of a (seemingly) chaotic evil race. He's not like the others.
But at no point is there ever a thought that there could be a gully dwarf version of Drizzt. Or an orc version. Or a Troll version. And okay, maybe when you've been attacked and are fighting for your life, that's a bad time to wonder.
But Agatha DIDN'T attack them. She was living her own life. And she was living as differently from other banshees as Drizzt was from other drow. And at no point does Drizzt wonder, "hey, maybe she's like me!"
Maybe I'm wrong and this will come up again. I don't remember a lot of this book. Right now, I'm very annoyed though. Agatha deserved fucking better.
So anyway, Drizzt and Wulfgar have found the farms that Malchor told them about. Wulfgar, being Wulfgar, wants to head straight in, but Drizzt stops him:
"These are a simple folk," the drow explained. "Farmers living in the webs of countless superstitions. They would not welcome a dark elf. Let us enter at night."
...I feel like it might go worse if they catch you trying to enter in at night, dude.
Wulfgar suggests they try to find the path without help, since he doesn't want to lose time. But Drizzt points out that they'd likely get lost.
...here's a thought. If they just need directions, why doesn't Wulfgar go alone and Drizzt wait out of sight? Then they won't scare the townfolk AND they won't lose time. Also, they could actually attack the banshee during daylight.
But if they did that, Drizzt wouldn't get this badass boast:
"Her time, the night," Wulfgar remarked, remembering Malchor's words about the banshee.
Drizzt's smile widened across his face. "Not this night," he whispered.
OR you could attack during the day, when she's weak? Okay. Whatever. They sleep peacefully during the day. Because apparently none of the farm folk ever have reason to go outside. But, we're told, "when dusk crept over the land, Neverwinter Wood took on a very different aura. Gloom settled all too comfortably under the wood's thick boughs and a sudden hush descended on the trees, the uneasy quiet of poised danger."
...I admit, sometimes Salvatore really does have a way with description.
So they go to the farmhouse, where they're confronted by a voice from the rooftops. Archers, who want them to state their business. Drizzt and Wulfgar note that these guys are actually pretty ready for defense.
Somehow they identify Drizzt as an elf without seeing him clearly. They scoff when Drizzt says they've got a fight with a common foe. Things get very interesting when Drizzt claims that a friend of his was slain nearby. This causes an old woman to come out and demand to know what they want with "the ghost in the wood."
The archers join in with unexpected cries to "Go away!" and "leave Agatha be!"
...this might be the first time in these books that I'm legitimately surprised by a story beat. Okay. You've got me intrigued.
Wulfgar thinks the people might be enchanted, but Drizzt notices something else. I'd groan about this being an example of Drizzt being OH SO wise, but this actually works. Drizzt is a drow elf whose been at least tentatively accepted by the people of the Ten Towns after all. It makes sense that he'd recognize when someone else is in a similar situation.
He claims that he'd heard this Agatha was evil, but asks if he's heard wrong. After all, if good folk are willing to defend her.
"Bah, evil! What be evil?" snapped the old woman, thrusting her wrinkled face and shell of a body closer to Wulfgar. The barbarian took a prudent step back, though the woman's bent frame barely reached his navel.
"The ghost defends her home," added the man at the corner. "And woe to those who go there!"
"Woe!" screamed the old woman, pushing closer still and poking a bony finger into Wulfgar's huge chest.
Things go bad pretty quickly, as Wulfgar scares the woman off with a threatening gesture, and the farmers attack. Drizzt dodges an arrow easily, while Wulfgar catches some guy who had the balls to try to leap on top of him. He holds him in the air, while Drizzt subdues the others with his scimitar. And of course, they can definitely see he's a drow NOW. And of course, they're terrified.
Drizzt tells them that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding, sheathes his scimitars and has Wulfgar gently lower the man. The little old woman comes out again, sheepish this time, pleading with them not to kill "poor Agatha."
The cowering man in the corner, "his voice quaking with each syllable" urges that Agatha is no harm beyond her own door.
Aw. This is actually really touching. These are normal people. Peasant class NPCs! They don't even have the combat ability of the people in Ten Towns. They're scared out of their mind. But they're still trying to protect their friend.
At Drizzt's glance, Wulfgar reassures them that while they'll visit Agatha and "settle [their] business with her", they won't harm her. It takes a bit more scary play-acting, but the farmers finally tell them the path.
We get a suitably dramatic farewell:
"Farewell, Conyberry," Drizzt said politely, bowing low. "Would that we could remain a while and dispel your fears of us, but we have much to do and a long road ahead." He and Wulfgar hopped into their saddles and spun their mounts away.
"But wait!" the old woman called after them. Their mounts reared as Drizzt and Wulfgar looked back over their shoulders. "Tell us, ye fearless - or ye stupidwarriors," she implored them, "who might ye be?"
"Wulfgar, son of Beornegar!" the barbarian shouted back, trying to keep an air of humility, though his chest puffed out in pride. "And Drizzt Do'Urden!"
The farmers actually recognize those names. Which means that MAYBE this all could have been avoided if they just came at daylight? Drizzt is a bit uneasy about being recognized though, since Artemis Entreri is probably "looking back for them", but sees Wulfgar's smile and decides to let him have this moment.
After they leave, Wulfgar and Drizzt discuss the village. Wulfgar's puzzled. These people didn't seem evil, but they protect the banshee. Well, dude, you are traveling with a drow?
Drizzt thinks that they're legit. He has a theory about why they're so attached to her. Conyberry is a very ordinary village, but it has some infamy for having "the ghost of Neverwinter Wood". This also comes with a certain amount of protection, since bandits and other sorts are less likely to want to mess with a haunted village.
I mean, it could also be that Agatha is as good a person as Drizzt himself? Why does this possibility not occur to anyone?
Wulfgar asks if Drizzt intends to kill "the thing". I like this question, because Wulfgar is a lot more practical than he's often given credit for. Drizzt says "only if we must". They're only here for the mask, after all, and they did give their word.
Wulfgar points out that Agatha might not willingly hand over her treasures.
This is where the alignment system of this game gets a little dicey. Because assuming Agatha is a sentient being, and it sounds like she is. Then our heroes are basically planning to extort and rob her. Possibly even kill her.
It's like the encounter with Whisper in Streams of Silver, where presumably, we were supposed to side with Bruenor and Drizzt when Whisper tried to change the terms of their agreement. But it was her map! And she had every right to decide she didn't want to be involved when she understood more about the risk!
Agatha might be a monster, and Whisper might not be a nice person, but they shouldn't have to hand over their belongings just because our heroes ask for them. And in Agatha's case, no one's even suggesting they BUY the mask from her. Or at least trade! Maybe she'd like a glowy scimitar!
ANYWAY, they continue through the woods, which are creepy and foreboding. More good descriptions though. Drizzt ends up using Twinkle as a light source. Eventually, he pulls a candle from his belt and breaks it in half, handing a piece to Wulfgar with the instructions to block his ears.
...how is that supposed to work???
Anyway, they reach Agatha's home: it's a dome of branches. A cave of trees. There's a small hole for an entrance, just large enough for a man to crawl through. Wulfgar decides to open a bigger door. Drizzt is uneasy about this, but admits that he doesn't have any better ideas.
Drizzt is of course vindicated, because Wulfgar's hammer strike shatters the dome. He's immediately entangled with vines. Drizzt attacks with his scimitar and slices through the bonds.
Agatha is pretty upset, and it's hard to blame her! She wails, and the candle wax is not very much protection. The men are staggered and dazed. Agatha comes out to attack, aided by a mirror image effect:
Suddenly Drizzt was confronted on more than twenty fronts by the twisted visage of a long-dead elven maiden, her skin withered and stretched along her hollowed face and her eyes bereft of color or any spark of life.
But those orbs could see - more clearly than any other in this deceptive maze. And Drizzt understood that Agatha knew exactly where he was. She waved her arms in circular motions and smirked at her intended victim.
I'm #TeamAgatha here. You guys are mean.
Anyway, Drizzt calls down a globe of darkness. She attacks with a lightning bolt. This rouses Wulfgar, who starts crawling through the low entrance. His defenselessness attracts Agatha's attention. Drizzt uses a handful of dirt and tosses it at all of the mirror images, who react the same way. While Agatha spits out dirt, her spell is disrupted.
Wulfgar gets up and starts smashing holes in things. At one point, he breaks a mirror and half of the mirror images disappear. Behind it is poor Agatha's treasure room. She wails again, but the guys are ready. Drizzt runs in and starts scooping up baubles and gold into a sack. Hey, you were here for ONE thing, dude!
And indeed:
His sack nearly full, Drizzt was about to turn and flee when one other item caught his eye.
He had been almost relieved that he hadn't found it, and a big part of him wished that it wasn't here, that such an item did not exist. Yet here it lay, an unremarkable mask of bland features, with a single cord to hold it in place over a wearer's face. Drizzt knew that, as plain as it seemed, it must be the item Malchor had spoken of, and if he had any thoughts of ignoring it now, they were quickly gone. Regis needed him, and to get to Regis quickly, Drizzt needed the mask. Still, the drow could not belay his sigh when he lifted it from the treasure hoard, sensing its tingling power. Without another thought, he put it in his sack.
...I seriously don't get the angst about this. I mean, yes, it does suck that Drizzt has to use a disguise to travel on the surface. But considering that you're robbing this woman simply because she's a banshee, without even trying to talk with her first, I have very little sympathy.
We're told that "Agatha would not so easily surrender her treasures", and well, why should she?! You're stealing her stuff! Maybe SHE has use for that mask! And certainly you don't have any right to her gold!
You could have made this a little more morally ambiguous, Salvatore. You could have had Agatha attack them first. You could have had them try to ASK Agatha for her help only to be denied and have her react in anger. Instead, you had them break her home and ambush her and steal her stuff. And when you tell me about how Drizzt is parrying away her frantic blows, I find it difficult to see how he's any different than the men who would have attacked HIM.
This would be really clever, actually, if I thought Salvatore would actually address that Drizzt has jumped to conclusions about Agatha in the same way that people jump to conclusions about him, and has used this as an excuse to treat her brutally. But I think I'm going to be disappointed.
Wulfgar, by the way, wants to help, but he hasn't figured out the pattern of the illusory images yet, like Drizzt has (of course), so he's stuck.
Meanwhile:
Effortlessly Drizzt danced around the crazed banshee and backed her up toward the treasure room. He could have struck her several times, but he had given his word to the farmers of Conyberry.
What. A. Hero.
So Drizzt eventually drives her back, causing her to trip over her broken mirror. Then he runs for it. Wulfgar, meanwhile, has figured out the trick of the dome and readies himself for a killing throw, but
"Let it end!" Drizzt shouted at him as he passed, slapping Wulfgar on the backside with the flat of Twinkle to remind him of their mission and their promise.
I really don't think you have the moral high ground here, you asshole.
Okay, I admit though, this did make me chuckle a bit:
"Pardon our intrusion," he said politely, bowing low - low enough to follow his friend outside to safety. He sprinted along the dark path to catch up to Twinkle's blue glow.
Dick. But at least an amusing one. Agatha gets a bit of her own back by hitting him with one last keen, slamming him into a tree. Drizzt of course, is fine. They flee, while she wails helplessly.
Our heroes, everyone.
The chapter ends with a little tag at the village. They hear the banshee's cries and chuckle a bit, thinking she's won. But the old woman notices the shift in her tone and realizes, no, she's lost. They beat her and got away.
Everyone's very impressed and will remember their names. Hmph.
And I'm really frustrated, because this COULD have been a really interesting teaching moment that Drizzt completely ignored.
The series would have us look at Drizzt as the victim of terrible prejudice, and that it's a tragedy that he has to hide himself to deal with others. Okay. Let's go with that a moment.
Agatha is in EXACTLY the same position here! She's a member of a species that is always evil. Just like the drow. She's somehow managed to make friends with these villagers, just like Drizzt did with the Ten Towns. She keeps to herself a ways away, JUST like Drizzt and his cave. The only people she hurts are the ones who invade her lair, and it certainly sounds like it's damn difficult to find said lair by accident. So basically, she kills people who are there to kill her.
How is she worse than Drizzt then?
How is she less deserving of respect than Drizzt?
Our heroes never bothered to ask these villagers how the relationship came about. They basically just made up a reason of convenience. Agatha's presence as a "ghost" brings the village fame and protection. It has nothing to do with Agatha as a person, so they don't have to treat her like one.
But the old woman pleaded for her life. The terrified archer's voice shook when he tried to defend her. To me, that sounds like more than convenience.
But even if it WAS just convenience. Our heroes didn't even TRY to talk to her. They didn't offer to buy the item from her. They didn't even try to sneak in and steal her stuff without significantly disturbing her! They broke her house! Drizzt robbed her! Not just of the magic item that he claims to need, but he just fills up a sack of her stuff!
How would Drizzt have felt if someone went to his cave and swooped up Guenhwyvar because they needed her more?!
Ultimately, that's the biggest problem with the series right now. We're supposed to empathize with Drizzt, and for the most part we do! I may not think the drow are a good metaphor for racism, but I can still appreciate that his situation objectively sucks. He's the one good member of a (seemingly) chaotic evil race. He's not like the others.
But at no point is there ever a thought that there could be a gully dwarf version of Drizzt. Or an orc version. Or a Troll version. And okay, maybe when you've been attacked and are fighting for your life, that's a bad time to wonder.
But Agatha DIDN'T attack them. She was living her own life. And she was living as differently from other banshees as Drizzt was from other drow. And at no point does Drizzt wonder, "hey, maybe she's like me!"
Maybe I'm wrong and this will come up again. I don't remember a lot of this book. Right now, I'm very annoyed though. Agatha deserved fucking better.
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It really does not help this scene that I'm strongly reminded of ParaNorman, so I'm picturing Agatha as a little girl who was murdered by the townsfolk who feared her. It feels like this could be an alternate version of that movie, where the villagers understood and regretted their (ancestors') mistake much sooner, but without any way to calm her, they settle for letting her have her space.