Trying to fix an old mod that allowed bees to ask "ya like jazz?", no idea how to make progress

[WarlockFiend]

I have searched endlessly for a mod or a forum post that explains how to add floating text to creatures with custom dialogue. I have found absolutely nothing to emulate, or that I can interpret into doing what I am aiming for. There are mods for custom characters and creatures, there are mods for changing out sound files, and there are mods for changing out what characters can say. But I have found nothing that explains how one can approach making something that cannot talk (for example, a bee) talk. I am certain its simple and straight forward, yet there is no resource I can find to explain how to do this.

I dug around game files, trying to see how things like pigmen and merms talk. I have found that their prefabs enable talker, and chattynode. I then have found that chattynode is called upon in these creatures brains through while loops, which reference a speech file to make them speak on loop in certain situations. The mod I am trying to fix or perhaps replicate, is linked here (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1197699346). The code looks really simple, but it just doesn't run anymore. It does not use a chattynode, but rather seems to randomly generate numbers to pick random voice lines. It is also set to listen for a statechange. Which I would assume means that anytime it detects such, it then runs its numbers and plays a line. I will attach the code for that mod onto this post. 

I would greatly appreciate any help in the process of either fixing this mods code so it can work again, or writting a new version of it from scratch doing fundamentally the same thing. Any sort of resources or advice, or just something to help me understand what I am doing wrong would be fantastic. Please, help the bees find a voice so they may express their enthusiasm for jazz!

modmain.lua