Man kept a greenhouse behind a blue house north of Saint Denis, wrought iron and glass, plants growing every which way like nobody ever told them to stop. Algernon Wasp, he called himself, and I believed him, on account of nobody would invent a name like that for themselves unless it happened to be true. Talked fast. Wanted things. Plumes, gator eggs, orchids — the man collected the world like it owed him a piece of everything living in it. I'd just finished a bad business with the Gray family up near Beaver Hollow when I found him. Should've known any man who builds himself a palace of glass to keep flowers in is going to want something strange from you eventually.
| Stage | Items | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| II | 5 Little Egret Plumes · 5 Reddish Egret Plumes · 5 Snowy Egret Plumes · 15 Lady of the Night Orchids | $110 |
| III | 20 Heron Plumes · 7 Lady Slipper Orchids · 10 Moccasin Flower Orchids | $125 |
| IV | 25 Gator Eggs · 3 Acuna's Star Orchids · 7 Cigar Orchids · 5 Ghost Orchids | $150 |
| V | 30 Spoonbill Plumes · 5 Night Scented Orchids · 10 Rat Tail Orchids · 5 Spider's Orchids | $175 |
| VI | 5 Clamshell Orchids · 5 Dragon's Mouth Orchids · 5 Queen's Orchids · 10 Sparrow's Egg Orchids | $200, Exotic Hat, Algernon's Revolver |
Plumes come off the rare birds in the Bayou swamps, thick around the Lagras islands. Gator egg nests turn up the same territory, usually with something alive and unhappy guarding them. Extra orchids beyond what the man asks for can be mailed off to some buyer who leaves notices tacked up at the post offices — never did meet him.
Told me he'd reward me handsomely, and he did, more or less. Money's money. But I'll say this — I spent more hours wading through gator country and picking flowers off tree bark than I care to admit, all for a man who never once left his greenhouse to see where any of it grew.
Found these growing close by Caligga Hall, right along the water. Opens up after dark, the name being honest for once, which I appreciated. Kept turning up in the same stretch of bank, like the whole family of them had agreed on a good spot and never left it.
West of everything, out past Strawberry and through Big Valley, with a good cluster down near Thieves Landing too. Ground-growing, mostly, pink as a blush. Whole different country out there — mountain air, quiet in a way the swamps never manage.
Clustered up south of Van Horn, not far from O'Creagh's Run. Dark red, near enough to blood that I looked twice the first time. Coal country up there, and these things growing right through it regardless.
White as bone, and they don't grow easy to find alone — mixed in thick with the Cigar, Queen's, and Rat Tail varieties, all crowded through the same stretch of swamp north of Saint Denis running up toward Lagras. Learned to stop looking for one kind at a time out there.
Same tangled country as the Star Orchid — a long stretch running from north of Saint Denis, up past Bluewater, near to the state line and the water's edge. Grows on the bark of trees more often than the ground, which took some getting used to.
Started finding these south along the Lannahechee, following a little river that runs parallel to the state line, down toward the deeper bayou. Pale, near translucent — the kind of thing you'd walk past twice before your eyes caught it.
Grew in the low ground south of Rhodes, between the town and the river, on the road toward Saint Denis. Didn't smell like much in daylight. Waited till dusk to understand the name.
Red ones, growing in the stretch of swamp between Bluewater Marsh and Lagras. Ugly name for a decent-looking flower. Some of these grow up on tree trunks instead of the ground, so I learned to look up as much as down out there.
Mostly along the north and south bends of the Kamassa River, deep in the bayou circle. Found a smaller patch of them clean across the map too, up near Tall Trees, which I never did figure the reason for. Same flower, split across two different lives, same as most things out here.
Started south along the Lannahechee and followed the river's west bank north, most of the way up toward Caligga Hall. Blue, shaped near enough to its namesake that I didn't need the book to tell me what I was looking at.
Only ever found a handful of these, scattered right around O'Creagh's Run near the water. Yellow, and rarer than most of the others for how few places they'd take root. Took some patience, and I'm not overburdened with that virtue.
Grow in a rough circle all around Lagras, dark green, easy to miss against the swamp grass if you're not looking close. Fitting a flower with that name would sit right at the center of its own little kingdom of mud and cypress.
Widest range of the lot — found them scattered clean from Brandywine Drop down through Annesburg and out to Elysian Pool. Purple, small, easy enough to walk right past on a mining road with your head down and your mind elsewhere, which mine usually was up there.