Why are there a couple of humans living in the goblin camp? How did that come to pass? Why aren't there more? I want to hear that story.
Because of the Absolute. That's also why the goblins are cooperating with the Gnolls.
Oh, I get "because the Absolute" as a high-level answer. But how did they and Edowin get roped in? Were there more people in their group/family that didn't come along? How do they feel about working with a bunch of goblins? Were they promised something for playing along? Were they approached by the goblins or the drow? Someone else? Whta did they give up in order to be here? Are there others like Edowin that didn't agree to come along?
"Because the Absolute" is simultaneously true and very unsatisfying. If I have a character that is trying to deal with a weird situation and keeps hearing about this unknown powerful figure that is clearly connected to that situation, I'm definitely going to be interrogating people who know more than me. Assuming that the goblins were largely already connected as a tribe, these two humans stick out like a sore thumb - they must have a really interesting reason for being here. "Because the Absolute" is not interesting.
