After Rook and their team help Emmrich secure the Grand Necropolis from a Venatori invasion and purging it of despair demons, Manfred appears in the aftermath to serve the Veilguard and Mourn Watch tea.^[2] As Emmrich's assistant, Manfred accompanies Emmrich to the Lighthouse, where Rook can occasionally interact with him by playing rock, paper, scissors.

During the quest The Sacrifice of Souls, Myrna and Vorgoth travel to the Lighthouse to inform Emmrich and Rook about their findings on the Gloaming Lantern. Gloaming Lanterns were fashioned in ages past by unscrupulous necromancers that used them to steal and concentrate life. Emmrich thinks Johanna Hezenkoss can use it to leech life from hundreds at a time—an endless source of power. Johanna is holding soiree in Blackthorne Manor and the Veilguard seeks to infiltrate the gathering and destroy her lantern. Emmrich sends Manfred into the gathering, posing as an undead servant, and has him gather information on where Johanna's workshop is, while Rook's team searches the manor for clues on how to reach the workshop. Emmrich uses his corpse whispering on an ancestral skeleton belonging to a deceased from the House of Verheims who agree to help Emmrich due to his association with Manfred. The ancestral skeleton directs the Veilguard to follow the red tapestries in the manor which leads the team to Hezenkoss' workshop. Once they enter her workshop, they discover that Hezenkoss has crafted an enormous undead bone golem, fueling it with the spirits in the Gloaming Lantern which she has inserted into her bone golem. They also find a revenge list which includes the guests of the party and Emmrich. Emmrich and the team fight their way to the lantern, occasionally being aided by Manfred, in order to free the spirits before destroying the lantern. However, there are too many spirits and Emmrich feels attempting to free them all will kill him. Hezenkoss accuses Emmrich of being a coward for not risking his life in a bid for lichdom while she did, and Emmrich agreed with her. Although Emmrich tells her he missed her as a friend and would have helped her if he could, Emmrich warns her against puppeteering her bone golem, which enrages her as she seeks to insert her consciousness in her creation. Hezenkoss orders her bone golem to start harvesting the souls of the party guests, forcing the Veilguard to start fighting Hezenkoss. After a lengthy battle, Hezenkoss begins using the bone golem to start draining the life from Rook's team. The Veilguard find cover by some ruined wall, and Emmrich states he cannot destroy the lantern as no living thing can approach it with out being killed by it. Manfred decides to snatch the lantern from the bone golem, but is crushed to re-death by the bone golem in retaliation. Manfred throws the lantern to Emmrich before his demise and Emmrich released the spirits from it, thus disabling Hezenkoss' monstrosity and saving Nevarra.

Emmrich and Rook brings Manfred's body back to the Grand Necropolis to ask a Lich Lord for permission to revive Manfred. The Lich Lord tells Emmrich he may bring Manfred's spirit back to his body, but it will cost him his Lichdom since Mourn Watcher liches must accept death—even the deaths of loved ones. Should Rook encourage Emmrich to revive Manfred, he makes the preparations and conducts the ritual during Heir to the Dead. Manfred is revived and reveals he can now cast magic, an ability that Emmrich believes became unlocked by his journey through the Fade (although Manfred has no recollection of his post-death experience). Manfred is promoted to an apprentice of the Mourn Watch in the Necropolis and is given a field coat to mark him as one. He also can speak new vocabulary, indicating he is growing more intelligent. Emmrich is happy to have Manfred back as his ward. Emmrich finds comfort in Manfred's ability to learn and grow—finding reassurance in Manfred's ablity to take care of himself after he passes on.