Looking round at the destruction of snapped trees and vegetation, Boosey says "Moving on from here seems to be a wise choice.  We're as likely to be trampled as eaten," and he shrugs.  "Besides, we'll surely hear this thing coming.  I mean, look at the place, it's been on the rampage. Can you lead us away from it Eku?"

She nods to Boosey and says, "I can and I intend to." After looking at her surroundings and towards the sun, she points in a direction nearly perpendicular to the path of destruction and says, "Our path leads us that way, but I would just prefer to..." She lets her words die off as she takes the party in as a whole. She begins again with, "I do not know much about the five of you, save a few details and that you are seeking out the source of the Death Curse..."

Nenne glances curiously at Eku. "You do not strike me as a woman easily unsettled," she says, raising an eyebrow. "Nor a woman who minces words. I would have any concerns of yours spoken plainly, if you please."

 @DM

“Hold on.“ Allister shakes his dung covered rapier. “We face a creature that shits this and you want to have tej and get to know us better? Can we please move on and talk about this later?“

"This is just one bend in the paths each of us walk." Sthara is suspcious of the sudden change in Eku (Insight 6).

Nenne smirks a little and nudges Allister. "She may not know much about us, but we are learning a great deal about her priorities."

She shrugs and says, "I was just thinking that one of you might possess magic that bends your sight further than the naked eye can see, then I got to thinking that I have no idea what sort of magics you possess. I don't doubt the course of our journey, nor do I sense any ill intentions here, but I feel like we might be more successful if we knew each other's strengths."

Boosey looks at her open mouthed.  "You pick your moments.  We can stand here and have a philosophical discussion if you like, but personally, I'd like to be as far away from whatever creature dumped half of Chult's population on the Jungle floor."  He gestures to the huge stool next to him.  "If we have to go a longer route to avoid it, so be it!"

Eku laughs at Allister's comment and adjusts her bow saying, "I did not mean now in the middle of this." She begins to make her way through the underbrush in the direction she indicated earlier. "Perhaps as we walk though? I can start if you like. I have lived in Port Nyanzaru for nearly twenty years and have been a guide for almost as long."

Sthara:

Nenne is amused at the entire scene and indulges in a little chuckle. A hint of magenta blooms on her cheeks and her hair gains a subtle undertone of pink. 

“Don‘t get me wrong, I’ll answer any questions you have truthfully once we’re safe but right now I have a gut feeling we should move on and get out of this clearing.“

"Where do you call home?" Nenne asks Eku. "Assuming you do not consider Port Nyanzaru to be that, now. And why did you choose to stay?"

As the speaking's of magic went on, Funderburk decided not to intervene. Not mentioning the fact that he has powers that can change the chances of things happening around him. Instead, he too was curious about what creature could create such a large amount of manure. He looked at Dunk, "Possibly companions," he said with both a curious and anxious tone, "It could be very much like a creature like Dunk. However, since I know not whether he is fully grown or not, it could be smaller in size... or bigger."

@Funderburk

@Nenne

Sidestepping the last of the fallen logs, Eku gets her bearings again and points Allister in the proper direction. She calls back to Nenne, "Before I came to Chult I lived on the outskirts of the terror they call Thay...It was not a pleasant experience. I partly stay for the experience. Just look at this place!" She motions to the surrounding jungle with its splash of color and wild beauty. "How could anyone walk away from this? And yourself, Nenne? Do I even dare guess where you call home?"

At the guide's question, Nenne's expression sweetens. "Home is a little village far from here," she says with a deep and nostalgic smile. "You'd like it, I think. The colors are extraordinary and ever-changing. It's still Summer there, if I'm not mistaken, so the reds, oranges, and blues must be all over the meadowland. And if the children have had their Rites, nature's chorus should be serenading the sablewood every moonrise."

As she speaks, her coloring shifts from its chilly palette to a noticeably warmer gradient. Her skin, still an undeniable grey, loses much of its blue in favor of a burgeoning peach undertone, and her hair catches the sun's light in gold rather than silver. 

"Chult has its beauty, as well," she continues, nodding to the native women respectfully. "And I have taken a liking to its people. It has welcomed me kindly enough."

The guide continues to poke her way through, moving aside plants with her walking stick. She looks back to Sthara and asks, "Your magic isn't familiar to me. The words aren't the same as those a wizard might use for the same spells, and you can heal as well as harm. Is that some hidden trixk of your lineage?" Ducking under a low branch she adds, "You are from Chult, no?"

"I, too, admit curiosity about how you weave spells, lady mage," Nenne interjected. "Mine are gifts bestowed through faith, and yours seem simultaneously similar and distinct. What is the nature of this Ubtao? Is it an elder god you follow?"

"It is part of my blood or my spirit," Sthara begins, weighing it as she speaks. "I am yuan-ti, a pureblood. I remember learning of Sseth. And I remember fearing Sseth. Every prayer and ritual was based in some base need for revenge–revenge for yuan-ti whose empire was crippled, revenge against those who personally wronged the praying one, revenge against other gods. I remember being lost...or...abandoned in the jungle. My parents and brood-siblings, were nowhere to be found. It was terrifying, but a man–a mazewalker–Ezifo found me. He brought me to Mezro, to the temple of Ubtao and taught me of the god's kindness and eagerness to create from dirt, stone and clay, everything here in Chult." 

Sthara mimes piling dirt together and elongated bits of clay at the top.

"The priests there, they spoke to Ubtao in prayer, but never like I spoke to him. He never fulfilled any wonders that I asked for; I am no priest. But he spoke to me directly, and told me that there was something in store for me at the center of my maze. He brought forth in me these powers, this magic."

To Nenne she adds: "He is old. The source of our land. But he is neither good nor evil. He simply is."