The second act of Rise of the Ronin’s explosive take on ancient Japan introduces a host of new characters for your Ronin to bond with.  It can be a good idea to take these missions on, as you get a better understanding of these new faces and their motivations. 

From Kaishu Katsu to Mr. Robert Fortune, this means more Bond Missions for your ronin to take on – and new challenges to master. The rewards you get from these missions are quite handy as well, making them a great choice for players looking to min/max their builds and engage with Rise of the Ronin’s intricately designed narrative. 

How to Complete An Intoxicating Flower in Rise of the Ronin

It is highly likely that you encounter a mysterious American woman during the missions Fruit From Distant Shores and again during In Search of New Discoveries. Wondering who she could be? Well, we’re here to help.

Unlocking this mission requires that you progress the story to the point where Katsu requests your help with a few tasks, one of them being to find a cure for cholera. This leads you to the mission It Hurts To Be Good where you first encounter Ine Katsumoto.

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Completing this mission then prompts Ine to ask you to retrieve lemons from Mr. Fortune, as a part of her Bond Mission Fruit From Distant Shores. It is here that you first encounter the mysterious woman. You can see her again in the Bond Mission In Search of New Discoveries in which you help Japanese scholar and samurai Yukichi Fukuzawa gather soil from bamboo trees. 

With these two encounters under your belt, speak to Mr. Fortune at the Kanda Botanical Gardens, where you may choose to begin his first Bond Mission, A Prize Beyond Reach. It is possible that Mr. Fortune may also show up at your longhouse in Edo prior to this, encouraging you to take up gardening as a hobby. 

He asks you to gather up a few flowers for him. Head on over to the location on your map, where you find a large tree with another Bond Mission icon in front of it.

Note that interacting with the Bond Mission essentially locks you out of completing A Prize Beyond Reach, so it may be a good idea to complete that mission first before taking this on. However, using the Testament of the Soul at your longhouse in Edo can allow you to revisit this mission at any time.

An Offer You (Literally) Can’t Refuse

If you interact with the mission icon, which is a strange flower at the base of the giant tree, your character immediately goes into a trance. Turns out the foreign woman is an expert in poisons and hallucinogens, as you may have seen from your previous encounters with her in the above-mentioned Bond Missions. You will find that your ronin is now firmly under her control, leaving you with limited dialogue choices that reflect just how effective her toxins can be! 

What’s worse, she tells you that her name is Alexandria Moreau and poor Mr. Fortune is her ultimate target. She then tasks you with serving a special tea to him, bringing him under her control as well. You are then tasked with escorting him to a location of her choosing.

Once the cutscene plays out, you end up right outside the Botanical Gardens where you can speak to Mr. Fortune to progress the quest.

Follow Mr. Fortune to the location you were asked to deliver him to, to find that Rutherford Alcock, the boss from The Fire Attack mission has tracked you down and wishes to rescue the poor man.

Defeat Alcock, taking care to reflect his poisonous darts back at him using your Counterspark. This fight can be a handful as Alcock is quick and aggressive. He also brings a few basic soldiers along which can complicate things a little bit on harder difficulties.  However, a bit of patience, timing and using the right combat styles based on your opponent’s weapons can tilt the odds in your favour. 

Once he is dealt with, Alexandria turns up and takes Mr. Fortune into her custody. You then establish a bond with her, unlocking further opportunities to improve your bond with her down the line. 

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This wraps up An Intoxicating Flower. Alexandria’s cold and calculating personality makes her a formidable opponent but with the right gifts like Premium Whiskey, Milk Chocolate and Yew Kobuku you can quickly make her an ally to your cause. She also becomes a merchant for rare crafting items, setting up shop in the Botanical Gardens.

Armed with a longbow and her unique blend of agility and poison attacks, she makes a great choice as an ally in a variety of situations. Activating a Ki Blaze with her as an ally grants you poison attacks as well, making her a fairly valuable addition to any team you may want to try out. 

If you’ve taken a shine to Rise of the Ronin as we have, our dedicated guides section is sure to pique your interest! Head on over to learn more about how to make the most out of your time in ancient Japan!