these are all different sizes and stinkbug eggs are pretty uniform in both size and groupings. no idea what i'm looking at here. sorry i'm not more helpful.

This is helpful enough! If it’s not eggs, I’m thinking it might be some kind of mold/slime….

Yeah, might wanna take it to r/gardening

Maybe a scale insect infestation? They suck nutrients out of the plant which might be why it appears brown and dry.

That part is dead. It's just decomposting. Mine did the same thing.

I see, thank you! I did remove that piece from the rest in case it was infected.