To Kill an Empire

Briefing
Astrid realizes what you’ve accomplished and prepares you for the honor of assassinating the Emperor. You’re to head to Castle Dour in Solitude and present the Gourmet’s Writ of Passage to the officer in charge, Commander Maro.

Astrid then tells you that you’re going to prepare a special meal for the Emperor, with an extra ingredient that she hands you. Before you depart, you can ask for more details on Jarrin Root and other information. Astrid tells you one taste of Jarrin Root is deadly, and she means it. (If you go to your inventory and eat it, you’ll drop dead. Higher level player characters might survive eating the Jarrin Root, as it does only 200 points of damage.)


 * Item gained: Jarrin Root
 * Objective: Report to Commander Maro
 * Target: Castle Dour courtyard, in Solitude

Impersonating the Chef
Journey to Solitude and locate the sprawling Castle Dour atop the hill. Step into the large courtyard and find Commander Maro waiting by the tower entrance. He certainly isn’t going to let anyone in with the Emperor staying. After showing him the Gourmet’s Writ of Passage, enter the door behind him. (If you wear a chef's tunic and hat, the Commander will say something different).

Once inside, you'll meet the girl Maro told you about, Gianna. After telling her you're the Gourmet, she'll ask you to wear a Chef's hat if you do not already have one on. As she mentions, there are a few on the shelves to your left. Go over and put one on, then report to Gianna once more.

Preparing a Poison Stew


She'll ask you what ingredients to put into the stew. Just follow along with it, and eventually you'll be able to put in the final "secret" ingredient, Jarrin Root. She'll then pick up the pot and walk it to the Emperor.

The Emperor will shortly drop dead after tasting the meal, and the guards will become hostile. If your sneak is good enough, hiding as the Emperor is eating the meal could help reduce any and all actions against the guards. Once the Emperor is dead, escape through the back door as instructed.

Alternatively, you may even make the soup normally without adding the Jarrin Root. Playing around with the ingredients will not affect the outcome, however, and will taste "fine" for the Emperor even if you added the ridiculous ingredients that Gianna comments on. Either way, after the tasting, the Emperor will stay alive, and you will be forced to kill the Emperor yourself to accomplish the quest. This is more difficult, however, with the fact that you'll be fully exposed as you do so unless you have a high amount of sneaking ability.

Betrayal
As you escape across the bridge, you'll be stopped by three Penitus Oculatus Agents, along with Maro. He'll give the slow clap to you, and then explain that the Emperor you assassinated was but a decoy. He goes on to explain that someone within the Dark Brotherhood family made a deal with him that he'd get you, and he'd retract all aggression from the Dark Brotherhood. He then reveals that he intends to break the agreement and kill you and everyone within the Family. He'll send the soldiers after you, where you are given the choice to flee or kill them (the soldiers are relatively weak, so it may be easier to just kill them and save yourself the time of running).

Destroyed Sanctuary
Afterwards, hurry to the Sanctuary where you will find Maro's soldiers destroying the place. The quest will then be completed and the next quest, Death Incarnate, will begin.

Bugs
Note if Gianna ends the conversation at "Its just" and you are a vampire, you must cure your disease. She does not speak with vampires or werewolves it would seem.
 * The three Penitus Oculatus Agents respawn after being killed, and will be hostile, but cannot move or attack. They will block waiting and fast travelling and killing them has no penalties.
 * After preparing the stew and giving it to the Emperor, there was a bug where he would stand over the chair and after drinking the poison, he would not die.
 * No matter how far you run from Solitude, attempting to fast travel always states that "You can't fast travel when guards are pursuing you." Reloading does not fix this. Happened attempting to flee without killing the guards, and with killing them all. I fixed this by entering a cave, and leaving straight after. Guards appeared at the entrance and did the usual "Pay your fines or go to jail" routine, putting everything back to normal. Another way to fix it is to kill a guard in any town and "Pay your fines or go to jail", and then it's back to normal.
 * After killing the Emperor, the backdoor used to escape will be locked, and must require a key to exit.
 * Sometimes when you don`t follow Gianna after making the stew, and you even added the Jarren Root Gianna will pour a empty bowl, and the Emperor will become stuck in the dialog, and Gianna will repeat the words "I'm so nervous" and the Emperor will not die.
 * Fix for above bug is to kill the Emperor.
 * If you told your follower to wait outside the sanctuary, he/she won't be there when you return after killing the emperor.
 * When approaching Gianna and talk to her, she will stop the conversation at "Its just..." I don't know myself how to solve it, but its an bug that will not let me continue the quest. Reloading does't work, and she can't be killed.