Investigating the mysterious corpse, the party arrives in Vesay only to be greeted by two suspicious lads bearing pitchforks. The party talks the lads, Carl and Perren, into taking them to the village elder Rostagnus, an old and nearly deaf man. His daughter Willa acts as an intermediary and explains that Vesay has lost a few villagers to the pox in the last few months, and that currently two women are quarantined on the edge of town.

Friar Sidrach visits the sick: a woman, Anna, and her daughter, Martha. Meanwhile the rest of the party explores the town, concentrating on the Church of St. Lamar and the adjacent graveyard. None of the villagers seem to know anything about grave-robbery in the area. The friar meets Anna's other daughter, Martina, and is shocked to discover that she bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead girl pulled from the Corin. Further, Friar Sidrach leans that Anna had another daughter, Helen, who died of the pox only a few weeks ago. He concludes that it was Helen's body that was found.

The party meets the chary hunchbacked curate of St. Lamar, as well as the parish priest, Father Tranchus. Tranchus is an old, scholarly man. He guides the party through the graveyard, notable for the large stone sepulcher of Sir Amard, former lord of Vesay and patron of the parish church. Helen's grave is covered with a dense growth of blooming wildflowers—an amazing anomaly, considering the time of year. Father Tranchus invites the party to stay the night at rectory, and reveals that he was once assigned to a parish church in the city of Canglen, before some obscure falling-out with the new bishop resulted in his transfer to Vesay over twenty years ago. While the father is showing the rest of the party around, St. James slips into the church and searches the rectory, discovering only that the priest has an extremely large number of books. Hamral arrives in Vesay.

That night Valerius, St. James, Coric, and Wyk explore the graveyard. St. James is nearly crushed beneath the headstone of Sir Amard's sepulcher: someone or something had pushed the stone onto him! A furious chase leads to the river, where the party soon finds the corpse of Nollis, his neck broken as he apparently slipped on the rocks while fleeing the party. Assuming Nollis had pushed the stone over on St. James, the looming question is, why?

Father Tranchus can offer no explanation, and he seems genuinely surprised and disturbed by this turn of events. He brings Nollis's body into the church and lays it upon the altar, preparing for an all-night vigil. Friar Sidrach volunteers to join him, but leaves when he discovers that the "holy" water which Tranchus sprinkles over the corpse seems foul.

The next day, Nollis is laid to rest in St. Lamar's graveyard, with Father Tranchus officiating. His mumbled service strikes Friar Sidrach as peculiar for its omission of any reference to the saints or to the Five.

The friar and Vandoren return to Anna's house, where Friar Sidrach administers to the sick a scrap of the Shroud of St. Lamar, a magical relic with the power to cure disease. Wyk and Coric talk with some of the rest of the villagers, and meet Alfred Host, a man who runs a hostel of sorts; they also meet the fat, one-legged knight Jarred and his younger, comely wife Alba.

Later that day, sensing that something is amiss with either Father Tranchus and/or the church itself, the party searches the church and surrounding area for clues, but uncovers nothing incriminating. They resolve to spend the night at the house of Alfred Host.

That night the town erupts in chaos after several villagers spot some horror lurking in the dark. The party sets forth and discovers a shuffling abomination, its misshapen head rolling about on its broken neck as it drags a dirt-encrusted shroud through the night. It appears to be the corpse of Nollis, animated in some dreadful parody of resurrection. The very sight of the unclean thing is enough to cause Renton, Vandoren, Wyk, and Mot to flee. Coric races off after them, leaving the rest of the party to take a stand against the monster. The creature seems impervious to normal weapons and is even able to withstand some magical attacks as it tries to throttle its opponents. Further, the monster is able to call up a ring of freezing, lightless flames which burn living flesh. Unholy wailings rise up from the flames.

Meanwhile, Renton and the others regroup and head directly to St. Lamar parish, where they find Father Tranchus engaged in some sort of bizarre rite. Renton and company quickly restrain the priest, who becomes hysterical and begs them to let him complete his ritual. Wyk, with a decisive wallop, knocks the priest unconscious. Just then, havoc reigns throughout the church: the image of St. Lamar begins to weep dark tears of blood, all of the windows shatter, and the ornate pentifix bursts into flames. Just then the monster reaches the steps of the church for a final confrontation. Mendelor hacks and Hamral stabs at the thing, and then Valerius somehow launches a flaming bolt which destroys the creature with a burst of heat and fire. As the thing is consumed, Father Tranchus weeps uncontrollably, babbling about being deceived by his pride. A search of the rectory discovers a weird book, which Valerius explains is a work of terrible blasphemy—and is what undoubtedly ensnared the hapless Tranchus.

Friar Sidrach, Wyk, and Coric stay in Vesay to help clean up St. Lamar Parish. The rest of the party heads back for Heremac with the subdued Tranchus and the evil book in tow.

Once back in Heremac, Father Tranchus and the book are turned over the to Seekers.