You have just returned from a journey of several months, visiting the other nations in the Empire to ask for aid in dealing with the Rat Plague. You must deliver their diplomatic response to the Empress, whom you serve as Lord Protector. The game begins with Corvo on a boat, returning to Dunwall. Walk towards your objective, when you are stopped by Emily Kaldwin. She asks you to play hide and seek, which you can agree to play or not.
Should you agree to play it, follow Emily until she goes under a stone bridge. She will begin to count, so follow the prompts on the screen to enter stealth mode and go straight ahead and hide behind the object. She'll begin searching for you and won't be able to find you as long as you keep hidden. Eventually, she'll give up and mention about going to meet the Empress. Go to where the Empress is and after some talking, hand her the letter.
As you're talking, some mysterious enemies will teleport to you and start attacking. Pay attention to the tutorial screens teaching you how to use your sword and blocking, then use those to attack the enemies. After the initial pair are taken care of, some more will come in and a cinematic will play out, with the Empress killed and Emily kidnapped. When the guards and others come, they blame you for killing her and kidnapping Emily.
