Act 1 isn’t complete which also plays a role in elements feeling unclear.
One thing I agree on is that it’s really easy to aggro the goblins in the temple and miss out on a lot of information. Like I killed Spike before speaking to Minthara and effectively gated myself out of any interactions with her. It feels like we’re missing an important cutscene/convo with that group. Doesn’t help that Minthara is tucked away in a corner and easy to miss.
We know the goblins have been going out on raiding parties because they ransacked Waukeen’s Rest. If you speak with Nettie you can get access to the drow Halsin killed, who states he was part of a scouting party. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to destroy the grove to keep knowledge of the tadpoles from getting out. Most of the Absolute’s followers seem unaware of the tadpoles existence, but Minthara might be one of of the few in the know? Even if she doesn’t, the Absolute likely wants to stop the druids from learning more. We see Halsin made notes studying the phenomena in the back with the dead drow.
Datamined spoiler:
Zevlor isn’t all that he seems. How much that factors in as well still isn’t known, however.
