Recipe for Disaster
Quest Giver	Festus Krex
Location	Falkreath Sanctuary Understone Keep Nightgate Inn
Prerequisite	The Cure For Madness
Next Quest	To Kill An Empire
Reward	1,250 Nightweaver’s Band
Faction	Dark Brotherhood
Type	Dark Brotherhood quest

BackgroundEdit

After completing "The Cure For Madness", Astrid informs the Dragonborn that Festus Krex has information regarding the next mission. The Gourmet, a celebrity chef, is due to cook for the Emperor. The Dragonborn must kill him so that they can take his place.

WalkthroughEdit

Talk to Festus, who will lead the Dragonborn to a man called Anton Virane, who is located inside Understone Keep in Markarth.

Friend of a ChefEdit

Question Anton Virane on the whereabouts of the Gourmet; he will refuse to reveal the location at first, but can be convinced to do so by intimidating him and saying that the Dark Brotherhood wants to know. He will give the Gourmet's identity as Balagog gro-Nolob, along with his location.

He will then ask that the Dragonborn to let him live. There are three responses to this: lying and telling him that he will not be harmed, or remaining silent, will cause him to resume his schedule as normal. Choosing the second option, "I'm afraid not," will cause him to flee, though no guards or other civilians will come to his defense until he is actually assaulted. In any case, he must be killed. Some methods to do this are:

• Wait until midnight when he goes to sleep. He can be killed in his bed without risk of witnesses.
• If the other occupants in the kitchen are making it difficult to sneak attack Anton, find a vantage point inside or outside the room and use ranged attacks to kill them. With no witnesses left, it will be much easier to kill Anton in the kitchen without waiting.
• Hide and cast Frenzy or Fury on him; he will attack everyone in the room, and can then be killed without a bounty.
• With the Sneak perk Poisoned, slip some poison in his pocket. This can be done at any time, but the Dragonborn is less likely to be caught if he is asleep.
• If the Nightingale Strife power is available, wait until the three people in the room are asleep, and then use it on Anton. No one should wake up when it is used. With no one seeing the murder, there will be no bounty.
• Place some fire, frost or lightning runes around his bed. If Anton triggers a rune and both he and someone else get hurt, the guards will pursue him, no bounty gained.
• While sneaking and undetected, use Beast Form. No bounty will be given for kills made while transformed. After killing Anton, escape Markarth and any pursuing guards to revert forms without incurring a bounty.

Killing the GourmetEdit

Balagog gro-Nolob can be found in the Nightgate Inn. He will either be down at the dock by the lake (during the day), or in his room in the inn's cellar. Killing him is rather simple, as there are no witnesses in the cellar and rarely any witnesses outside the inn, and he has extremely low health and no armor.

Acquiring the BonusEdit

To acquire the bonus, Balagog's body needs to be hidden somewhere. Gabriella hints that she uses bodies of water for hiding victims. The innkeeper of the Nightgate Inn, Hadring, mentions that Balagog often goes down to the lake. Wait until he leaves around 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., then follow him to the lake, kill him, and drag his body into the water (the nearby river will not count). Due to his low health, even attacks such as Unrelenting Force will kill him instantly.

If he is killed in the cellar of the Nightgate Inn, there are several ways to hide his body. One is to drag his body and lift it into the large empty wine barrel at the east end of the room. Removing everything from his inventory will make his body lighter, and may be necessary to lift him into the barrel. Another way is to drag him behind the hay bales until this part of the quest is marked as completed. Dragging the body under the bed also works.

Note that the Disintegrate perk or the Dragonborn Force enhancement to Unrelenting Force may turn Balagog's body to ash, making it impossible to hide.

Report back to Festus Krex to complete the quest.

TriviaEdit

• If Balagog is decapitated, his head will have to be hidden along with the headless corpse.
• After obtaining the Gourmet's Writ of Passage, if the Dragonborn speaks to Balbus, he will offer a unique piece of silverware named Balbus's Fork. Balbus can be somewhat difficult to locate, as he wanders around Skyrim with no set schedule.

BugsEdit

• Sometimes when killing Anton, the Dragonborn will get caught by a seemingly invisible woman shouting about the deed, even if there are no witnesses. Even if all potential witnesses are killed, receiving the 'bounty removed' confirmation, the guards outside the room will attack on sight.
• If Balagog is killed while sitting in his chair, his body may fall below it and get stuck, and will not be moveable.
  • It may be possible to dislodge him with the use of the Unrelenting Force shout, and grabbing him by the portion of his body that is stuck beneath the chair.
• He also sometimes get stuck under the bed if he is sleeping when killed. If he gets stuck under his bed and his dagger falls to the floor, it is possible to drag it behind the barrel, thus completing the quest.
• Choosing to 'Eat' Gourmet with the Ring of Namira equipped will trigger a 'complete' for the bonus, but the bonus will not be awarded.
• Sometimes the Writ of Passage will not be on the Gourmet's corpse. To fix this, enter the console and target him, then use additem 3BEB6 1. This will cause two copies of the Writ to appear in his inventory. Take one, and the quest will update.