Honestly there doesn’t need to be much of a reason beyond hearsay, honestly. If a rumour is widespread enough then many will likely accept it as fact, especially if the risk of proving/disproving is somewhere between trespassing (assuming it’s a normal cellar) or whatever manner of evil magics (if we assume it isn’t)
That along with maybe the odd escaping thing - a flash of light, a weird smell, some inexplicable sound - I don’t think it’s that strange for it to be a bit of an open secret.
Also I know it’s named as a reference, but it just being called “The Slaughtered Lamb” probably wouldn’t give it a reputation of a family-friendly inn/tavern.
We absolutely -adore- when people enter the Lamb and freaks out because of our menu, or because they heard rumors of how unsavory our regulars can be. And we never mind people looking at the cellar door and imagining what could happen behind, it’s part of the charm.
I am truly speaking of people being like “Yeah everyone knows! I have a friend who goes down there regularly, demon amirite, haha?” and it’s only because the place is 20 years old and not very well hidden because of its 2004 design.
I don’t struggle, no. Most NPCs down the Lamb are part of the Black Harvest and moved to the Rift lorewise. Also, the Dreamgrove was an already existing location, as the Hall was since it’s built in Dalaran. The Rift has been captured during Legion and can’t quite be compared to the other two places.
I think some people need to remember that their IC character isn’t the Great Hero and Saviour of Azeroth, friend to Dragon aspects and Faction leaders alike, that their character is when they’re playing WoW.
Too many people bring their lore knowledge of the game IC. The Lamb basement isn’t some common knowledge that everyone in Stormwind should know about. There can be rumors and whispers, but the questlines suggest that it really is not common knowledge, and to try and pry is dangerous.
Genuine question - are these questlines still in the game? Most of the Stormwind quest I’ve seen still in have been things like “go deliver this wine to so-and-so?” or “can you drop this off at the tailors?”
To expand on this further, the Order Halls, with a few exceptions, have never been portrayed as a permanent thing. They were organisations or locations where people gathered their strength to fight the Legion.
Zardeth of the Black Claw is the most notable Stormwind warlock NPC to go and join the Black Harvest for the duration of the war with the Legion, but it does not with any authority say that he stayed there after.
In fact, what little evidence we have is that he moved back to Stormwind after the Legion was defeated, given he appeared in N’Zoth’s vision of Stormwind which is set after Legion, and he was present in the city for that. So clearly the Blizzard devs who put him there intend for him to still be present in Stormwind.
Besides, Dreadscar Rift is hardly a place to live. It’s a headquarters, yes, a place you’d go to work, but I severely doubt it’s a place you permanently move to unless you’re one of the functionaries.
He was lobbying for a full investigation and suddenly dropped dead. By the very nature of the chain of events, who in their right mind would try to publically connect those dots?
Now granted, he might have had other enemies as well, but I very much expect for some in the House of Nobles to have taken his death as a clear warning. “If you stick your hand in a fire, expect to get burnt.”
While there’s nothing to directly confirm this afaik, it’s a sound hypothesis. Fits the warlock vibe to a tee. There haven’t been more such investigations later to my knowledge, so gunning for the 1% seems to work!
Nobles are not quite so important or vital to Stormwind as roleplayers often like to portray. There are other authorities that hold greater sway when said nobles aren’t having their influence artificially enhanced by a black dragon.
“When asked about, the city guard consider that the warlocks never bring anything good, and that it is therefore necessary to be wary and keep an eye on them, although the law does not expressly prohibit their presence in the city (if they are not enemies of the Alliance). They also reply that they don’t know of any warlock trainers in the city, however, they mentioned some sightings of activity at the Slaughtered Lamb and advised concerned adventurers to check there.”
“The Knights of the Silver Hand are aware of the warlock sect operating in Stormwind City, and while the paladins officially reject their presence, unofficially, they think their knowledge can be of use and may contact them when dealing with demonic forces.”
“When Lord Baurles K. Wishock discovered that the warlocks were hiding in the basement below the tavern, he caused a stir amongst the House of and lobbied for a full investigation, intending to petition the king to shut down the establishment. In reality, Wishock had spent his days at the tavern consuming liquors, without ever paying his tabs, and was at the time looking for a way to escape his debt.”
You could quite reasonably piece together from this that 1. Wishock wasn’t important enough since he needed to gather support first, 2. He never really had any sort of moral or legal reason to go after the warlocks, he just wanted to clear his debt and 3. The actual authorities in the city (The Guard, the Silver Hand, probably the Wizard’s Sanctum) already knew about the warlocks.
This is a Season of Discovery Quest. Not a Retail one.
Sadly removed with Cataclysm. Most people go down the Lamb to turn in Onyxia’s head, but this is nonsensical lore wise, even the quest name hints at this.
Just got around to doing the quests and I gotta say, this is probably the most interesting the Kirin Tor has been in a long time. Moving away from the world-power flying city supernation of archmagi and instead towards a decentralized and agile group of researchers and advisors (and going by Jaina’s words, back to its Alliance leaning no there is no point arguing on this yes I am aware it’s entirely up for interpretation just what the writers meant with that line).
Loss of an RP hub? I guess? I don’t know, I never liked Dalaran much myself so it’s not exactly a big loss in my eyes. I feel like wizards are more interesting in a more spread out and limited-in-numbers sense than there being an entire flying city-fortress of them.
Sort of late to the convo but I can’t really find in the previous posts why this distinction matters.
Not to mention that, as far as Blizzard is concerned, it is fully canon to the main timeline and ought to be perceived as ‘stories they did not have the chance to tell’ (paraphrased).
My own Kirin Tor character would love this. Unfortunately, it’s helmed by Jaina, whom he despises for many reasons. So he’s unfortunately going to bail. Sadge.
I am well aware of SoD status concerning the lore.
Though those quests are here only for the rune system, they decided the Paladins know because…? I can take a guess it was for no other reason they needed warlocks for the quest so they added it a bit like the last books. As a result the Lamb in Vanilla is both a well kept secret and not at the same time.
Also paladins being ok with a warlock sanctum back in Vanilla feels like a very modern/retail mindset being ported out.
So yeah, I tend to follow lore, so if a paladin comes to the Lamb for warlock help I wouldn’t blame them, but of the two options, not knowing is more fun IC. So to each their own.
It’s not really new, though. It was an open secret even in vanilla, the stormwind guard send you that way when asking for a warlock trainer, with something along the lines of “haha what are you talking about citizen that would clearly be extremely illegal please shut up before others overhear but maybe try the slaughtered lamb i heard weird things happen there”
And nowadays the guards send you to a strange building with all classes stacked up in two rooms. Guards always served a gameplay purpose for players rather than characters. So we circle back to what we were speaking about with Obahar, it’s fine knowing the Slaughtered Lamb can be a strange place for strange things, but acting like the door is open to everyone and everyone has their own entry down there is a stretch.