Swamped

"As far as we can tell, outside of what appear to be primarily scouting missions on both the Marshguards and Bogknights, most of their activities relate to gathering a large supply of darkwood. We're not sure if it naturally occurs in the swamp or if they've found a way to manufacture it there, but they seem to be stockpiling it."

Darkwood? Really?

"Why?"

"We suspect that it's to power their machines. But that's only a guess. We've got no particular insight into their plans, we only see the results of their actions."

"No particular insight, other than having an idea of what their target is."

The figure shrugs.

"It hasn't helped as much as you might think. All I can tell you is that our people are sworn to protect it. I don't even know precisely what it is, myself."

You're getting annoyed here. Maybe it's time to switch focus.

"Look. I get that you don't trust me, or your leaders don't want to deal with me, or whatever. But these people have attacked our camp, and they're clearly causing you a lot of trouble. So it makes sense to work together and further our chances."

"It makes sense to you", the figure snaps. "You're pretty clearly in over your heads. But what benefit would an alliance be to us? What do you have to offer that we cannot provide for ourselves?"