Deadalus and Son

Red Dead Redemption
Stranger Side-mission
Deadalus and Son

Start

On top of a mesa near Agave Viejo

End

The bottom of a mesa near Agave Viejo

Given by

Charles Kinnear

Location

between Casa Madrugada and Agave Viejo

Progression
Unlocked by	Unlocks
Irish mission strand: "We Shall Be Together in Paradise"	None

Location Map

Click to enlarge.

“	Into the wild blue yonder, Marston!	„
	—Charles Kinnear

Deadalus and Son is a Stranger side-mission featured in Red Dead Redemption.

Story

Charles Kinnear is found on a ridge in Mexico with his flying machine. He explains that flying is becoming popular out east, and that he's going to be the first to sail through these lands with his flying machine and take advantage of the strong updrafts of the region. Kinnear's flying machine is not ready, however, and he asks Marston to get him some supplies.

Walkthrough

Mission Prerequisites

Before this Stranger will appear on the world map, the player must complete:

Irish's mission: "We Shall Be Together in Paradise".

Mission Objectives

After speaking with Charles Kinnear, the player must:

Gather 20 feathers from any combination of birds.
Gather 5 beaver furs.
Gather 10 Red Sage.
Return these items to Charles Kinnear.
Wait 1–2 days for Kinnear to complete his glider.

Mission Details

Talk to the stranger near Agave Viejo.

He is located in between Casa Madrugada and Agave Viejo, just South of Roca de Madera, on the cliff's edge.

Tips and Tricks

See the Beaver page for spawn locations.
A good place to collect Red Sage is in Rio Bravo (just above Plainview). There is also the Survivalist Map, which shows all herbs on your mini-map from longer distances for 20 minutes (40 if passed rank 5 of Survivalist Challenge). It is best to avoid the hollow overlooking Armadillo, however, since this area is frequented by a pair of fast-respawning Cougars and full of bushes and scrub that make them difficult to spot.
The Stranger can die. One known possibility for this is the wolves that inhabit the land close to the stranger. Shooting at these wolves will cause him to panic and run off the cliff to his death. In this situation, it was reported that the Stranger respawned approximately seven in-game days later.
Feathers can be found literally everywhere; large birds drop more than small ones, as a rule. A fast way to gain feathers is by clearing a gang hideout; a large number of Vultures will spawn when the hideout is clear. Chickens also drop a lot of feathers.
A good story mission to collect crow feathers is "Pestilence".
Duck feathers can easily be aquired through the Stranger mission "Remember my Family".
Various Random Encounter marksmen will challenge the player to shoot a certain number of birds within a time limit (mainly Hawks in New Austin, and Eagles in Great Plains), an easy way of gathering feathers.

Trivia

Kinnear's ambitions are a little anachronistic; the Wright Brothers had achieved powered flight in 1903, and reports of early gliders stretch right back to the 9th century, with well-documented successful examples as early as 1849. It's possible that, like the Preacher, Kinnear was unaware of these accomplishments.
- Although Kinnear's motive never appeared to be being the first, rather just inventing and flying a flying machine
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a great inventor who built wings out of wax and feathers with which he intended to escape from the labyrinth in which the king Minos of Crete had imprisoned him, together with his son, Icarus. While they were flying, Daedalus noticed that Icarus flew too close to the sun. The wax melted and Icarus fell to his death in the sea.
- Kinnear, however, appears unaware of this, as he exclaims to Marston "They doubted dear Icarus sir, yes they did!", although it might hint his ill-fated results.
- The fact that Daedalus's name is misspelled in the title of the mission as "Deadalus" provides a small amount of dark humor and hints at Kinnear's unfortunate fate at the end of the mission.
If you start the mission as John and give Kinnear the supplies as Jack, Kinnear might make a remark while you walk up to him saying: "Is that you? Oh, the years have been very kind."
- Also if the mission is completed as Jack when you give Kinnear the supplies he will ask: "Did the kind man send you?"
After completion, the crashed flying machine will remain at the base of the cliff for the entirety of the game.
If you look carefully, you can see the crashed flying machine on your map, even before you start the mission.
Immediately after completing the mission, the player can scope in with a sniper rifle or binoculars and see Charles' body. It will normally have unspawned by the time the player reaches it if they go via the trail down to the bottom of the mesa, but with some luck it is possible to survive sliding down the cliff. Charles' body has only a Survivalist Map if looted.

Bugs

Upon completion of this mission, when Charles gives the player money, it can occasionally zero out the player's wallet.
There has been at least one occurrence of Charles jumping off the cliff in the cutscene while the flying machine remains where it was before the player approached him. This is followed by Charles hilariously hanging in the air briefly, as if he were still using the flying machine.
While delivering the materials, if your horse is attacked by wolves while you are talking to Charles, you will fail the mission.
When you're about to watch him fly, he can be replaced by a big, white horse.
If the player points a gun at him or kills him before starting the mission, he and his flying machine disappear entirely.
If you have 20+ feathers from different birds, he will take 20 of each feather. For example; if you start with 24 crow feathers, 26 hawk feathers and 22 songbird feathers, you will end up with 4 crow feathers, 6 hawk feathers and 2 songbird feathers.
Occasionally, when you give the materials to Charles, there is a bug that occurs after the task updates in the journal and the game autosaves. Your materials will be deducted from your provisions, but a rattlesnake can spawn at the position that charles walks to at his glider. The snake can kill Charles, and fail the task for you. You then have to repeat the task of collecting materials for him, despite the journal having being updated, it reverts to its state before you delivered the materials.
If the player chooses to skip the cutscene of Charles' flight, and after the auto-save is performed, a dialog will state that "The Stranger has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Check back next time you are in the area." Despite this, the stranger side-mission will be complete.
Sometimes, after Charles crashes down below, his body will bug and fly all over the area before dropping somewhere entirely random. This can be quite humorous. It is possible to lasso him when he gets close but doing so will hurl you off the cliff and down below. This has only been seen on the Xbox 360 version of the game. Installing the game can fix this bug.