Webbed Allies

Buddy cannot reach the Sky Bower alone. The moth’s plan splits the job across three cultures plus a silk bag. This page is who they are and what they actually need from you, without repeating the full walkthrough.

Patches the moth

Lives in The Tree. Wants to recycle a cocoon-like nest into a balloon. Gives you the three-part quest log: labour, repairs, fuel. Talk to him whenever a checkbox should have ticked and has not — the journal wording is clearer than most NPCs. Dance with him for Strictly Bugroom.

Ants

Underground, industrial, faintly revolutionary in their signage. They need practical silk: lifts, pipes, a cork, a gearbox, legs on a Mech-Ant. Recover 18 larvae while you are there. Completing the colony stamps the Gear / helmet sticker. Ants provide the balloon’s crew and muscle. If you are stuck, you are usually missing a weave between two obvious sockets, not a hidden lore item.

Bees

East canopy, honeycomb wayfinding, orchids. The Queen wants 42 pollen. Princess Bee appears at the balloon pad after 20 pollen if you have not launched. Bees patch the silk bag so the balloon is not a sieve. They also offer a lift home (Hi Honey, I’m Home!). The canopy is where most baby spiders hide, so helping bees doubles as 100% work.

Dung beetles

West hill, mud, rolling. Mike and Wendy need bridges over puddles. Parents need you to evict a child from a dung ball and roll it downhill — that ball is fuel. The biome teaches momentum because silk will not stick to mud. Robot spider rubble and the hat button live here too. Fuel is the piece players forget when the balloon “just will not start.”

Mother Spider and extras

Mother Spider sits near The Tree / canopy entrance and takes rescued babies. A big fly, skate ants, and hidden spiders are allies only in the sense that they stamp your book. You do not need them for the credits.

Diplomacy tips

• Dance first, then talk. Some achievements care.
• Do not eat flies in front of people if you are going for Virtuous; the game will not scold you, the achievement will.
• Order is flexible. Ants first is kinder to new players because puzzles are boxed rooms. Bees first is prettier and easier to get lost.
• After all three checkboxes, you still have to physically web the motor and platform. NPCs will not finish the knot.

For personalities versus navigation, keep this page and the map both open. For the bird who caused the coalition, see Bowerbird.

Who to visit when you are stuck

Stuck on a pipe: ants, and you need a tighter weave, not a new friend. Stuck on a slope: dung beetles, and you need rocks, not more silk spam. Stuck counting pink specks: bees, and you need to look at orchids the honeycomb ignored. Stuck with a balloon that looks complete: moth journal, then physically check motor, platform, and whether the fuel ball actually arrived under the tree. Allies never take the controller. They only change which rooms are legal. Dance anyway. Strictly Bugroom is a coalition achievement in spirit — you showed up as a guest, not a contractor. If an ally repeats a line, you have not fulfilled the physical web they asked for. Re-read the bubble, then look at the object, not the wiki, for thirty seconds. Then come back to the walkthrough if the object is still rude. Allies also hide the dance checklist: moth, ant, bee, beetle, mum, fly, hidden spiders. Tap Q when the prompt exists. It is the cheapest achievement you will ever forget until credits.