The Taste of Death

Background
"We've discovered that some of the dead have been... eaten. Flesh has been chewed off, bones were snapped to get to the marrow inside."

- Brother Verulus

Hall of the Dead
The quest is given by Eola inside the Hall of the Dead in Markarth. She will appear inside the Hall of the Dead after Brother Verulus is convinced to talk about the reason why it is closed to visitors (through the dialogue options of persuasion, bribe or intimidation).

After being told that the Hall of the Dead is closed because many bodies have been eaten by an unknown intruder, the Dragonborn can accept a task from Brother Verulus to investigate the problem. He will give you the key to enter the crypt.

Once inside, an unknown woman's voice will be heard talking about cannibalism. Soon after, Eola will reveal herself. She worships Namira, Lady of Decay, and seems to believe that the Dragonborn, like her, desires to feed from dead human bodies. The dialogue remains the same even if the player has not eaten Human Flesh to see its Alchemy effect.

Through dialogue, the player can listen to what she has to say or to confront and kill her. Listening to her will activate The Taste of Death quest. Eola will become invincible and leave the Hall of the Dead and go to Reachcliff Cave, where she will wait for the Dragonborn.

Regardless of whether the Dragonborn chooses to kill Eola or to listen to her, the Dragonborn can report back to Brother Verulus and tell him that the Hall of the Dead is safe, who will reward you with an Amulet of Arkay.

Reachcliff Cave
Eola will be waiting for the Dragonborn outside Reachcliff Cave, where she asks the player to defeat the Draugr inside. She will follow the Dragonborn in combat if asked.

After the dungeon is cleared, Eola will propose a feast to celebrate the victory. She will ask the Dragonborn to lure Brother Verulus into Reachcliff Cave to be eaten, as part of an initiation ritual. Back to the Hall of the Dead, Brother Verulus can be convinced to follow the Dragonborn through dialogue options (persuade, bribe or intimidate). Note that convincing Verulus to follow you without payment seems to be extremely difficult (however, if wearing an Amulet of Articulation, Verulus will be persuaded).

The Feast
When the Dragonborn arrives at Reachcliff Cave with Verulus, there will be a feast going on in the last chamber, with other cannibals around a big table. Eola talks to Verulus and convinces him to lay on the altar ("to rest", while he waits for the dinner).

Eola then asks the Dragonborn to kill Brother Verulus and feast on his flesh. After killing him, the Dragonborn can activate his body, and a dialogue box will appear with the options to eat or to leave Verulus' body alone. If the Dragonborn chooses to eat, the voice of Namira herself will sound, telling the Dragonborn she's pleased with them. She gives the Ring of Namira, which allows the Dragonborn to feed from dead human bodies.

At any moment before eating Verulus, it's possible to fight Eola and the members of The Coven of Namira during the feast. This will cause the quest to fail. the quest will only fail if you fight the coven after you killed Verulus or if he doesn't survive the fight. If Verulus survives, he will give the Dragonborn a level-indexed cash reward and head back to Markarth. Objectives will still be marked as failed. (tested)

If the Dragonborn had bribed Verulus to follow, the bribe can be looted from Verulus' corpse after he is killed.

Trivia

 * Eola does not appear in the crypt until after you speak to Brother Verulus in Understone Keep.
 * There are several different Halls of the Dead in Skyrim. The one related to this quest is located in Markarth, inside Understone Keep.
 * Turning on the Cannibals will force several important NPCs, including the shopkeep and hound trainer to turn hostile to you. The reward given may not be worth the lost ring and merchants, so it's advised to either kill the priest or use Console Commands to remove the merchants' hostility. If you do kill Lisbet, owner of Arnleif and Sons Trading Company in Markarth, Imedhain will take over as the Goods Merchant inside.
 * Killing her just as you enter the cave (no witnesses) to clear it out will not turn the shopkeepers hostile.
 * If you complete the quest by killing Verulus, you can leave the cave then re-enter to find Hogni, Lisbet and Banning have all returned to Markarth. You can then kill Eola, Sanyon and Nimphaneth, and hear Namira speak to you one last time. Hogni, Lisbet and Banning will remain friendly since they didn't witness the killing.
 * Killing Eola before you reach the Shrine, causes you to fail the quest and the Daedric item becomes impossible to obtain.
 * Attacking Eola while wearing the Ebony Mail, not only will she counter-attack but she can be killed. This results in failing the mission.
 * The cannibals have gold, lockpicks, health potions, and food as loot in their bodies.
 * Nimphaneth is a Necromancer, and will re-enchant dead bodies to do her bidding, so watch your back.
 * If you kill Brother Verulus and you bribed him the money will be on his corpse once you can search it making the bribe free.
 * While in the Hall of the Dead, Dawnbreaker will glow while Eola is present

Bugs

 * If you kill Eola after successfully completing this quest and receiving the ring, the quest will erroneously change to being failed. Your journal states: "I killed Eola. Whatever she could have offered me was lost when she died.", even though you already have the artifact in your possession.
 * If you kill Eola within Reachcliff Cave after you have accepted -Convince Verulus to follow you- some citizens of Markarth will speak to you as if you are a member of their cannibal cult. Even though you have not lured Brother Verulus to be eaten or taken part in the feast.
 * Sometimes when Eola comes up to you in the hall of the Dead and starts talking to you, the disembodied voice will keep on talking over her, making it difficult to understand what she is saying.
 * After you bribe Brother Verulus to follow you, he may not and the quest will be uncompletable, and by that time, he becomes invincible.
 * If you kill Eola just as you enter the cave, as in the notes above, the shopkeepers will not be hostile yet dialogue options will appear "You were at Namira's feast, weren't you?". There was no feast since she lays dead at the entrance. The quest marks as failed this way.
 * After you bribe Brother Verulus to follow you, the game may lead you to "Namira's Shrine" as the next quest objective instead of Reachcliff Cave which may be a typo.
 * If you elect to kill Eola the first time she is encountered in the Hall of the Dead, Brother Verulus may glitch, never leave Understone Keep, and constantly stop the player for conversation while he is in the keep.
 * If you kill Lisbet before returning her statue of Dibella, it will be impossible to drop. This quest can never be completed. On the other hand, if you kill her after returning the statue and loot it from her corpse, it will be impossible to drop as well.
 * Brother Verulus may not follow you if you ask him to come with you before you tell him you've cleared the Hall of the Dead. The only known fix is to reload a previous save and tell him you cleared the Hall of the Dead first.
 * Sometimes just trying to enter the Cave will cause the game to freeze.
 * After acquiring the misc. mission, "Speak to Verlius about the Hall of the Dead" or "Tell Verulus the Hall of the Dead is safe" if the player does not report the information to him before later on sacrificing him on Namira's altar, the mission will remain incomplete and will not be removed from the quest's log.

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