Twisted Bud in Silksong: location, curse and cure

The Twisted Bud in Silksong does not curse Hornet when you pick it up. You can carry the crying plant in your inventory without losing your normal abilities. The curse begins later, when you give it to Greyroot in Shellwood during Rite of Rebirth.

That distinction decides how to plan the quest. Collecting the item is safe preparation; handing it over commits you to a restricted moveset until you complete a separate removal wish. The walkthrough below includes quest and ending spoilers.

Finding the Twisted Bud in Bilewater

The pickup sits in a secluded part of northwestern Bilewater, below the Whispering Vaults. Use the hidden passage at the eastern end of the Vaults to enter from above. The room containing the Bud is separated from the ordinary Bilewater routes by a gate, so heading down from any convenient entrance does not put you on the correct side.

Look for the concealed way through the upper-right part of the relevant Vaults room. Follow it past the machinery and down the long shaft. From the bottom, work through the passage to the right, drop down, then turn left through the obstructing vines. The crying sound helps identify the final chamber, where the Bud rests in a root cradle.

The Hollow Knight Wiki item entry identifies this top-down entrance. PC Gamer’s Twisted Bud walkthrough includes location screenshots if you need to match the passage to your map. Use the Vaults approach rather than treating a vague instruction to go left from Bilewater’s main entrance as a complete route.

You can still obtain the Bud in Act 3. What becomes unavailable through story progression is the associated Act 2 ending, not necessarily the item or the Witch Crest quest. There is no need to rush the pickup because a guide calls the whole object missable.

Greyroot causes the curse; Rite of Rebirth does not cure it

Before Greyroot can use the Bud, complete their earlier wish, Rite of the Pollip. Then speak to Greyroot in Shellwood while carrying it. Rite of Rebirth ends with Hornet infected and taken to the Chapel of the Witch.

You wake surrounded by vines that you can break with the Needle. Escape the chapel and decide whether to seek treatment or keep the infection for the ending challenge. Greyroot is not offering to take the parasite out, and finishing this rite does not immediately award the usable Witch Crest.

While cursed, Hornet has the following restrictions:

• Bind no longer restores Masks. Resting at a bench still provides a way to recover health.
• The Silk Spool is capped at three strands, and Silk Skills cannot be equipped.
• Tools are unavailable, including those in the Vesticrest. Plan to navigate without the Compass.
• You cannot swap out the Cursed Crest at a bench. Walking is slower, and attacks use its altered moveset.

The curse does not disable every movement ability. It also does not leave you with ordinary Needle attacks plus a few usable Tools. The community wiki’s Cursed Crest mechanics lists the specific restrictions and distinguishes that temporary state from the Witch Crest you earn after treatment.

Removing the Bud through Infestation Operation

You can seek the cure before fighting the Act 2 final boss. There is no requirement to watch Twisted Child first. After escaping the chapel, your destination is Yarnaby in upper-left Greymoor, beyond the upper passage near the Chapel of the Reaper.

The Bell Hermit in Bellhart can point you towards Yarnaby, but the conversation is a navigation clue rather than the cure itself. Yarnaby opens the door while Hornet is cursed and starts Infestation Operation. The machine needs Steel Spines before the procedure can go ahead.

1. Speak to Yarnaby in Greymoor and obtain Infestation Operation.
2. Visit Crull and Benjin in Sinner’s Road. Their shelter is above the large chamber with hanging cages.
3. Obtain the Steel Spines for the machine. The method depends on whether you are in Act 2 or Act 3.
4. Return to Yarnaby and complete the operation. The Cursed Crest becomes the Witch Crest, and the curse’s restrictions are removed.

In Act 2, the Steel Spines entry lists the patched price as 160 Rosaries. Some early walkthroughs still give the old 260-Rosary figure. In Act 3, Crull and Benjin are dead, and you collect the part from their bodies without paying. Do not wait for a shop conversation that can no longer occur.

The Infestation Operation wish page separates these two routes. If the late-game quest fails to advance, check that your game is updated before assuming the save is permanently ruined. Team Cherry’s first patch announcement specifically includes a fix for this wish often being uncompletable late in the game. That is a documented fix, not a guarantee that every missing-item report has the same cause.

Keeping the curse for Twisted Child

For the Twisted Child ending, defeat Grand Mother Silk while Hornet still has the Cursed Crest. This must happen before you have taken the Snared Silk route into Act 3. Carrying an unused Twisted Bud in the satchel is not enough: Greyroot must actually have infected Hornet.

If you want that ending, leave the removal operation unfinished until after the boss fight. Once Yarnaby cures you, you cannot use the same infection again to trigger it. Prepare the boss route before handing the Bud to Greyroot if you want to avoid doing more exploration than necessary without Tools or Bind healing.

You do not need a second save profile just to get the crest after seeing Twisted Child. Reloading that profile after the ending returns you to the pre-boss state, still cursed. You can then visit Yarnaby, finish Infestation Operation and continue with the Witch Crest. The wiki’s ending requirements and reload behaviour explain why the order matters.

Which step should you take next?

If you are trying to work out why Hornet’s abilities have changed, check which event actually occurred: finding the plant, giving it to Greyroot, or finishing Yarnaby’s operation. Those are separate states, and confusing them sends you to the wrong NPC. More walkthroughs are available in the Rover SD game blog.