The Flower Expanse exploration entry in Where Winds Meet locks behind a secret caravan quest that the game barely explains. Many players arrive with high regional completion and still see an empty marker with no clear starting point.
The core of the puzzle is a short chain: find a lost earring on the cliffs near the graves, spawn a courtesan’s caravan below, clear three outposts listed in her letter, then return to be dragged into a follow‑up scenario. Only after that does the Flower Expanse exploration guide entry complete.
How to start the Flower Expanse exploration guide (earring trigger)
Step 1: Go to the graveyard area on the cliffs above Flower Expanse. Look for a cluster of tombs overlooking the fields, with two wandering NPCs nearby. This is the area players describe as the “grave area near Flower Expanse.”
Step 2: Search the ground near these tombs for a small glowing item described as a missing earring. When you stand in the correct spot, an interaction prompt appears (default key F) to pick up the earring.
Step 3: After you pick up the earring, walk back down toward the Flower Expanse road below the cliffs. A horse carriage caravan with a courtesan inside will appear at a fixed point near the fields.
Several players only saw the caravan after interacting with the earring. Simply standing where the caravan should be without taking the earring does nothing, even at the right in‑game time.
Talking to the courtesan at the caravan
Step 1: Approach the spawned caravan on the Flower Expanse road and interact with the courtesan. She recognizes the earring and thanks you when you return it.
Step 2: During the dialogue, she explains that she wants to see flowers but bandits are blocking the way. At the end of the conversation she gives you a quest item, a letter that lists three outposts she wants cleared.
The letter names three stamina‑based outposts: Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort. These are ordinary outposts that consume stamina when you run them and reward a chest at the end.
Clearing Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort correctly
This part causes the most confusion. The game does not add a normal quest entry to the journal for everyone, and players often already cleared one or more of the forts before meeting the courtesan.
Step 1: Open the letter in your bag and read it carefully. It explicitly lists the three required outposts: Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort. These must be treated as stamina outposts, not simple overworld camps.
Step 2: Go to each of the three named outposts and fully clear them. This means entering through the stamina gate, defeating all required enemies, and reaching the end where the reward chest appears.
Step 3: You do not need to open the final reward chests for quest credit. Several players report that simply completing the outpost run is enough. Others mention that taking the 20‑point chest works as well. To avoid confusion, you can safely open the chest, but it is not required.
Step 4: After you clear the third outpost on the letter, the main character is expected to speak automatically with a short line prompting you to go back to the caravan in Flower Expanse. If this line does not trigger, the quest can appear stuck.
Order sometimes matters. Some players only saw progression after clearing Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort in the exact order written in the letter, especially if they had already cleared one of them earlier in the playthrough.
Returning to the caravan and the kidnapping segment
Step 1: Once all three outposts on the letter are cleared and the protagonist comments about returning, go back to the Flower Expanse caravan location and talk to the courtesan again.
Step 2: A new dialogue chain plays out. During this scene, the courtesan drugs the protagonist. The screen fades and you wake up in a separate area, described by players as a small village or house.
Step 3: Inside this new location, follow the on‑screen quest prompts to escape. The game directs you through the escape sequence; you need to complete it in a single flow without logging out to ensure it registers properly.
After completing the escape, you are returned to Flower Expanse. At this point the hidden caravan event is considered resolved and the exploration guide requirement for Flower Expanse is fulfilled. This event can reward a cosmetic item like the cat bell accessory.
What to do if the Flower Expanse caravan does not appear
Several things can prevent the caravan from showing or the earring from being interactable.
Step 1: Double‑check the earring location. The earring sits very close to the graves above Flower Expanse, near two wanderer NPCs. You need to stand almost directly on top of it for the F prompt to appear. If you see nothing, slowly circle the grave cluster instead of relying on the minimap.
Step 2: Make sure you have not already picked up and turned in the earring earlier. Once the courtesan caravan has been spawned and used, the earring will not appear again. If you remember talking to a courtesan in a carriage in Flower Expanse before, the trigger is already consumed.
Step 3: If you are sure you never saw the caravan, revisit the area at a different in‑game time window. One player reports finding the caravan around 9–11 pm in‑game with Qinghe at 98 percent, but others see it at different times, so time may not be a strict requirement. Still, cycling time can clear glitches.
Step 4: If none of this works and the earring still has no prompt, log out to the main menu and back in, then reload the Flower Expanse region. Some players only saw interaction prompts appear after a fresh load.
What to do if you cleared the forts and nothing happens
The most common complaint is clearing Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort and then seeing no new dialogue from the courtesan.
Step 1: Confirm that you ran the outposts as stamina instances after receiving the letter. If you had previously cleared them before ever talking to the courtesan, those earlier clears may not count for her request, even though the camps look empty now.
Step 2: Use the letter as a checklist. Open it and re‑run each outpost explicitly while you have the item in your inventory. Some players resolved the bug only after re‑clearing all three in the order listed in the letter.
Step 3: After re‑clearing the last fort, wait a few seconds in the outpost area to see if the protagonist speaks. If you still get no line about returning to the caravan, finish your current session, then wait for the next daily reset before trying again. At least one player reported that the quest updated correctly only after a reset combined with re‑clearing in the right order.
Step 4: When you return to the caravan, talk to the courtesan repeatedly until her dialogue reaches the end. Some players only saw two repeated lines and then a blank state before the quest fully woke up later.
What happens if you log out during the kidnapping village segment
A handful of players accepted the drugging scene, woke in the village interior, became confused about what to do next, and logged out to reset. When they logged back in, they were back in Flower Expanse with no caravan and no way to re‑enter the village.
In that situation, the game treats the caravan event as consumed. The escape objective expects you to finish it in one continuous attempt. Exiting the game mid‑quest can leave the exploration entry stuck, with no visible way to return to the house interior.
If you are still inside the village or house, do not leave or log out. Follow the escape instructions and complete the segment in one run so that the Flower Expanse exploration mark updates correctly.
How to tell when the Flower Expanse exploration guide is done
After you:
- Find the missing earring at the graves above Flower Expanse,
- Trigger and talk to the courtesan caravan,
- Clear Gourmand Gorge, Tiger Fort, and Buddha Fort as the letter describes,
- Return to the caravan, get drugged, and escape the follow‑up location,
the Flower Expanse exploration objective tied to this secret event is complete. The associated marker in the exploration interface resolves, and the region can reach 100 percent if all other local puzzles, chests, and vistas are already done.
If all of those steps are truly finished and the marker still refuses to clear, the behavior matches other reported bugs in the same area, such as experience issues in Mercy Heart Town or exploration entries in Bodhi Sea. In that case, only a future patch from the developer is likely to fix the stuck state.
