I don't find it confusing as long as the dialogue is working properly. And I think part of the fun is meant to be piecing it all together like a mystery. But better journal entries might be a helpful middle ground.

Although I'm not sure how likely this would be, another option could be to have a cutscene trigger as soon as you walk into the goblin camp. Minthara comes out, congratulates the returning party, mentions avenging the fallen scouting party, and suggests whoever does so brings glory to the Absolute. This also serves as giving people doing an evil playthrough an actual reason to side with the goblins in the grove fight.

“But his mind saw nothing of all this. His mind was engaged in a warfare of the gods. His mind paced outwards over no-man's-land, over the fields of the slain, paced to the rhythm of the blood's red bugles. To be alone and evil! To be a god at bay. What was more absolute?”