It’s basically a week since P2 launch and there are some crazy discoveries and observations being made. Strap in, it’s a lot to read. I’ll have 2 TL:DRs at the end of each major secret section.
Edit: Here’s the TL:DRs before the wall of text for easier reading. <3
TLDR 1: Void lady from retail getting some SoD cross promotion with void related items.
TLDR 2: The secret weaponized plague Sylvanas has ordered that no one besides the Forsaken are aware of and was used in WotLK to try and kill the Lich King is being developed. Sleeping Bag Bro, secret agents, the Syndicate, the Stromgarde, and the Royal Apothecary Society are all involved in some way. Sleeping Bag Bro’s life may be threatened for knowing too much and is hiding
Ok, let’s begin lol. Soooooooooo…
Blizzard stated SoD is its own game. Not an alternate timeline, alternate reality, or the core timeline. It’s just SoD. However, that doesn’t mean additional stories cant be told that may give us insight into WoW’s timeline.
Xal’atath’s role in SoD is an example of that. They are a void entity with great power who have spent most of their existence confined to a dagger that is used by various mages, shamans, warlocks, etc over the centuries. They to be a big part of Retail going forward (or so I have been told by members of the secret finding Discord) and apparently have been a major character lurking in the background of WoW’s history since the beginning.
At the current point in WoW history we know Natalie Seline, a bishop from Stormwind who used the dagger confining Xal’atath to research dark and light energy, has lost it. She realized the importance of balancing the dark and the light, but after she died, all of her research was locked away in Dalaran.
After awhile, the Twilight’s Hammer gained possession of it, and tried to use it to summon a powerful demon general, Zakajz, who was a servant of the Yogg-Saron. However this hasn’t happened yet.
You guys remember the void-touched gear right? And how you had to swim into the purple void fog underneath Kelris’s room? That’s Xal’atath’s doing. Blackfathom Depths is the Twilight’s Hammer’s domain after all, so it makes sense.
TLDR 1: Void lady from retail getting some SoD cross promotion with void related items.
Next up, New Plague, the Secret Agents, and Sleeping Bag Bro. Fair warning, there is some speculation in this section, but I am going to try to keep it to the bare minimum.
Through careful examination of the quest text and items located throughout the sleeping bag quest line, we have discovered a giant conspiracy taking place. Similar to the Xal’atath story, we are getting additional context to WoW history. In this case it’s The New Plague. The weaponized plague that almost killed the Lich King.
We begin with a burnt note on a burnt dead body and cart. Not much to go on, but we can determine that someone came across this scene, left a note for someone to guide them to them, and then whoever saw it, burnt it and the crime scene. Then the player character stumbles across it. Alliance and Horde get the same first and second quest dialogue even though they are different places.
Next, we find an undamaged note on a plank that introduces our first key characters. “Mission” who we can assume is the organization Sleeping Bag Bro is working for and “New Plague.”
The exact text reads, “Mission said they were both making deliveries for New Plague. Looks like simple apothecary accidents to me.” So “New Plague” is a code name for someone or an organization.
These however were not simple apothecary accidents… We as the player know the history of the New Plague, but a quick note. One of the new, still undiscovered NPCs has the tag <Royal Apothecary Society.
And now onto a brief history of The New Plague. So Sylvanas wanted to create a new undead plague to wipe out the Scourge so she founded the Royal Apothecary Society, R.A.S., that is entirely made up of Forsaken. All the other races of Horde believe they are working on a cure for their “illness.” In reality, they are building a devastating weapon in secret that ends up being almost powerful enough to kill the Lich King.
So these agents, including Sleeping Bag Bro, are investigating this, and providing us with additional tidbits about what is going on in that story during this time period. At this point, it seems that at least Sleeping Bag Bro doesn’t understand how bad it actually is, but there are other agents who might… and might not like what he’s stumbled on to.
So next we are directed to Sleeping Bag Bro’s camp… He’s still got a happy-go-lucky vibe about him and his note is untouched again. It tells us to check his hidden stache for supplies. Then the supply stache is there, but he says it’s there if he needs to flee in a hurry. So we can assume that at this point, he isn’t in a hurry, right? The supplies stache is also in a “Messenger Bag” we dig up which could tie him to the Waylaid Supply collectors as they sell similarly named bags, or could at the least further describe Sleeping Bag Bro as a “Messenger” of sorts, unless it’s literally referring to the type of bag just being a messenger style bag.
Then the note directs us to the dam. The name of the quest to the dam is “Wet Job” which is “a covert assassination performed by government operatives.”
Once we get to the dam we understand why it’s named that, to an extent. This is where things get tricky. This is “The Eagle’s Nest” and there are TWO long barreled guns with giant scopes on them. One is pointed down the dam, pointed towards the gap in the mountains where the bridge between Wetlands and Arathi sits. On the end of the gun hangs a black rag blowing in the wind, which we see later! Next to it, a shield we don’t see later, but if we however over it, it says “Battleground Shield” as a tooltip. There’s also an eagle statue that funnily is just the Alliance WSG flag shoved into the ground with the rip sticking out.
The note we find is again, in good condition. It’s described as “carefully folded.” And for the first time, the quest text says, “Imagining a voice speaking, you read” followed by saying it’s a great place to launch a parachute glider. This could just be flavor text, but to me, this indicates that our player character would understand enough about the Sleeping Bag Bro and this story to imagine a basic voice for them. And it’s true. Based on the objects around the locations and the supplies he left, signs point to him being a dwarf.
The quest’s name we get from the dam ends up being called Eagle’s Fist and the note further goes on to say “My loyalty to the Eagle and Fist requires distance in order to serve them best.” It has been determined that “The Eagle and Fist” is referring to the Stromgarde. Their shield and tabard crest are an Eagle and Fist. Stromgarde Keep is currently controlled by 3 factions. The Syndicate, the Boulderfist and Witherbark trolls, and of course the Stromgarde.
Another note, two undiscovered NPCs are the same colored as the Arathi orges and trolls, but have the tag <Mercanary.
So Sleeping Bag Bro seems to be working for the Stromgarde and we can assume he traveled to Thoradin’s Wall by “Parachute Glider.” So we head there next.
At the wall, there’s A LOT of little hidden details to look at. Let’s break it down.
When you start scaling the wall, eventually two secret agents appear. They are not there when you first arrive. The female agent appears first, then the second after another minute or so. They stay there the entire time watching you and don’t leave. There is one other known location of them, in the Barrens overlooking the beginning of our quest. However, upon revisiting they no longer seem to be there.
So we get into the camp on the wall. First to be noted is the fact that the same long barrel, big scope rifle with a tattered rag is there. This same gun being at both the dam and the wall along with the fact that the agents no longer appear in the Barrens at the beginning seems to indicate passage of time between each step and further confirms that there are multiple reoccurring characters.
Now let’s talk about the other guns. There’s 4 in total. 1 gun with a rag pointed at a broken tower, 1 pointed at Durnholde Keep, 1 pointed the opposite way towards Arathi’s Northfold Manor farm. All are areas that the Syndicate have taken over. The same ones occupying the keep of Stromgarde. And the 4th gun is rolled up in the bedroll that we get. So… Why are there 4 guns? Well, they could have set up extras, but we know for sure that one is the same gun from the dam.
With further investigation we come across an open box of unidentified swords and a 6 slot shield rack with 3 shields on it. The shields have Alliance crest on them, but the color scheme is blue and silver with no gold, and matches the “Crest of Darkshire” shield. So Sleeping Bag Bro has a gun, and then there are 3 others. Then there are 3 shields missing from the rack… Seems like there’s another person now part of the equation to me.
Next, on the side of the wall is a rope. It leads to the roof where there is a parked Dwarven flying machine. However… in the previous note Sleeping Bag Bro said the dam was the perfect place to travel by “Parachute Glider” and I don’t think that’s what those flying machines are called…
Next, the shelves. On top of them are two books: Beyond the Dark Portal and Aftermath of the Second War. You’d like they would be great clues, but what is on the shelf beneath them is even better. It’s sectioned in two. On one side we have Alliance books and a mortar with shells and on the other there’s a jug with the Horde crest on it and a big Horde themed clay jar. Assuming this was intentional, this allows us to assume there is some sort of Horde involvement as well.
There’s also a fire still burning to indicate someone was just here, but the note also says that. There’s a torn tapestry of the moons of Jupiter and a map on the table, but both are core game assets that dont seem to be more than flavor. And there’s food crates that when opened give Dwarven themed food only, further adding to the idea that Sleeping Bag Bro is a dwarf.
All that’s left is the note, titled “This Must Be The Place” a reference to The Talking Head’s song by the same name, though I think it stops there. The quest says, “Whoever was here, you just missed them.” The note left by Sleeping Bag Bro then says, So, I’ve decided to take my work back underground. To stop it falling into the wrong hands." With the remaining quest text stating, “The paper is torn just large enough to fit the message. You aren’t sure if these are the last words you’ll read from the author, or if they’re a clue to the next hideout.”
So let’s break it down. He’s heading underground. That could literally mean underground or just went into hiding. Why? Because he feels hes in danger. Enough danger that he only uses the bare minimum of what paper he has left to write notes on. He has to conserve it. It also states this may be the last thing we read from “the author” which should confirm it was the same person writing the notes every time.
And this is where the story goes cold…
TLDR 2: The secret weaponized plague Sylvanas has ordered that no one besides the Forsaken are aware of and was used in WotLK to try and kill the Lich King is being developed. Sleeping Bag Bro, secret agents, the Syndicate, the Stromgarde, and the Royal Apothecary Society are all involved in some way. Sleeping Bag Bro’s life may be threatened for knowing too much and is hiding.
So what else is there? Well, nothing really besides data mined NPCs we haven’t located.
There are a bunch of somewhat regular NPCs, Mud Golem, Forest Troll Shadow Priest, Orgi Magi, and Gnoll Overseer, that have the <Mercenary tag. I was told they are all neutral mercenary units from Warcraft 3 apparently.
Besides them, there are a bunch of different named murlocs. Chomp <The Jaws, Puddle <The Wet, Snarly <The Swift, Telemachus <Dungeon Friend, Explrgl, and Tidelurker Mrrglrlr. Telemachus and Explrgl are both baby murlocs.
The STV fishing tournament doesn’t give the lobster mount, so that’s missing too, but… yeah.
That’s it. All the runes are discovered with many of them in places that are like a 7 minute swim to get to. It’s strange that there are so many new NPCs that have been yet to be found with so much of the map naturally explored by trying to find the runes.
The secret finding Discord and I are combing the land and sea for anything new, we have completely cleared many zones, and still found nothing new.
There’s still more to discover in phase 2 it seems. 