Yarnaby

Aha! The spines! Specimen, you have them! Then it is time, indeed! Bzzt! To free you of your wriggling torment, and show my genius clear!

Now now! What’s all this? Infested are you, bzzt?

Do you even know who I am? Why, ‘tis the great Yarnaby, genius physician, unfairly outcast, who now towers before you!

Hornet

I apologise for intruding upon your work, but if you are the skilled physician you claim, I ask your assistance.

Hornet

A parasite has wormed its way inside of me. Its roots twist and pull inside my shell, draining my strength. If you possess the skills and tools, I would see it removed.

Bzzt! Well, well! So you’re a special, sickly specimen, are you?! That changes matters, yes. Turns them on their head!

Let me see. Hm. Not haunted, indeed. No Silk-sickness. But something strange has certainly clawed its way in!

These “roots” that torment you so... I’m not altogether familiar with them, but it matters not!

If there’s something nasty inside a shell that must come out, we use great Yarnaby’s Extricator! It’s your only hope, bzzt!

...Hmmm, but to crack your stiff shell we’ll first need some extra strength. The healing can be done, yes! But before that my mighty Extricator needs an upgrade!

A locked bellhome. Call out?

Hornet

Madam, my shell has been overcome by a foreign force. Plasmium, it has been called in your land.

Hornet

Though the substance provides some regenerative aid, I feel my mind at dangerous risk of being overtaken.

Bzzt! Maybe overtaken is good? Better even? Why go thinking yours is a mind so precious?

The great Yarnaby treats the sick! Not those that benefit from their afflictions. Enjoy its advantage and leave me in peace!

Bzzt! What now?! Not another bother for the great Yarnaby?

Hornet

Madam, I have returned with the spines requested. Allow me to enter, that you may remove this parasite from my shell.

Specimen, we must! There are secrets to uncover, bzzt! Progress can not be denied!

Bzzt! Bravo! A specimen who sees my brilliance!

The task for you is simple. Head over into that tangled mess of cages, on the roads above the moors.

Two bugs hide away there, Benjin and Crull. Simple types, woefully ignorant... yet they have been useful in procuring me materials.

It’s Steel Spines I need. A full bundle of them, forged hard and sharp. Tougher than I’ve ever had. Tough enough to crack stone! And to pierce your thick shell, bzzt!

Hornet

Then prepare your machine for my return, madam. I shall soon return with the spines, for I am eager to see myself freed.

Bzzt! Leave me in peace! The great Yarnaby treats the sick! Not those that benefit from their afflictions. Enjoy its advantage and leave me in peace!

Hornet

Very well, madam. I did not mean to waste your time.

Off with you! Head over to that tangled mess of cages, in those roads above the moors.

Those two bugs, Benjin and Crull, can surely scrounge up what I need. A full bundle of hard, sharp spines!

Auugh! Bzzt! Again the world lashes out at me!

But the pain... it means nothing to Yarnaby!

Nothing can deter my great work! Not for long! I must not be stopped!

Bzzt! Who’s bothering me now?! Leave the great Yarnaby in peace! Shoo shoo!

Hornet

I am sick, madam, and badly in need of your service. I’ve become host to a vile infestation. It leeches my strength, and attempts to wrest control of my shell.

Halfwits, the lot of them! Such grand achievement, wrought by Yarnaby! A bug healed full by my marvellous machine!

A few weaklings expire, and they all raise their claws. Is there no place for progress in their tiny minds?!

Bzz-zzt! You hesitate! But your fear of my Extricator is born from mere ignorance, and you can overcome it with effort. Take a moment. Reconsider!

The great Yarnaby can rid you of those nasty “roots”, but to crack your stiff shell my mighty Extricator needs an upgrade!

These roots that torment you so... I’m not altogether familiar with them, but it matters not!

If there’s something inside a body that must come out, we use great Yarnaby’s Extricator! It’s your only hope, bzzt!

You’d ask my aid, but won’t assist yourself? Then leave! Remain suffering, and stop being a bother to me, bzzt!

Go and rest! Bzzt! Free yourself of your trifling ailment and leave me in peace! The great Yarnaby has no time for petty maladies!

Hornet

Very well, madam. I did not mean to waste your time.

But, hold! There is something more about you... I’ve sliced the shells of countless filthy pilgrims! All those plain, greying innards! Yours are something else entirely!

It tickles at my mind, still! Bzzt! What is it of your shell that eludes even my perfect, precise perception?

Would you show me, specimen? Go on! Let the great Yarnaby peer at your deeper, darker secrets!

Hornet

I’ve no desire to see my shell pried into further, healer. Your service has succeeded, and taken its toll in pain. I hope only that I never again need to seek your aid.

Gahh! Who keeps making all that racket out there?! Such horrid shaking and screaming. The crucial work is being spoiled! Bzzzt!

The operation... a success! The simpletons hiding in that blasted bellvein would shudder into dust if they saw how much I achieve without them!

Hornet

Madam... I shan’t lie, that was an ordeal such as I have rarely suffered...

Hornet

And yet, the parasite does seem to have been... unbound somewhat. Whatever remnant still lingers in my shell feels calmed, enough for me to claim its power as my own.

Hornet

Perhaps this is a fortunate result after all.

Of course. Of course! Great Yarnaby has healed you! Shout it through the caverns. Scream it from the great spinning towers!

Just make sure they hear you in the so-called ‘civilised’ settlements of this ignorant land!

Yes... yes! Bzzt! Finally, a specimen worthy of my mighty Extricator! My beautiful, unfairly-maligned Extricator! Come this way, bzzt...

Come back with those spines, or not at all! The great Yarnaby’s time is precious, bzzt! I will not be distracted from my work!

Shoo I say! Unless you’ve brought a worthy specimen, with something truly nasty inside them, bzzt! Otherwise, leave the great Yarnaby in peace!

Don’t act the fool, specimen! Bzzt! Share more of yourself, that I may gain greater understanding! Learning! What other hope is there to save our blighted, thankless world?!

Hornet

I have declined, bug. Whatever you seek, you shall not find it either upon or within my shell.

If you refuse to share your secrets, then distract me no more, specimen! Bzzt!

There is still much work ahead for the great Yarnaby! Much thought, much learning!

Though the ungrateful world shuns me, still, by my own claws shall it be saved!

Hornet

Madam, I am sickly. Maggots of the fetid bogs beyond the moors writhe upon my shell. I would ask your aid in removing them.

Maggots! That’s all you bring the great Yarnaby?! My time is precious! Only for the seriously afflicted! The truly, hideously enfeebled. Bzzt!

Find a bench, or a bed, or a rock! It’s only rest you need. Settle yourself somewhere, and those maggots will soon wriggle themselves out of your shell.