Ancient Societies – “Leaving”

Stella posted the video above to start off the week. She’s back, after a break, and she wants us to know all about the new place she can hide from her father. Are we calling Wayland her father at this point? Do we still believe that? Either way, it’s moot, because Pinstripe comes in to let Stella know that her plans aren’t exactly going to work.

Probably the most important implication of this video is that Pinstripe, and presumably Wayland, know about ancientsocieties.com, and they know about the Students. They know that Stella’s Students will fight to keep her safe, and most importantly, they know she’s been trying to circumvent their watch this whole time. They know what she’s started to figure out. They’ll mostly likely only tell her more lies to cover it up, but it seems that Pinstripe and Wayland might even reach out to us Students just like Stella has. Whatever happens, she wants us to “help.” (Check out the italics.)

It would be really interesting if we had to start helping Stella escape the penthouse somehow. In today’s challenge, she left a note in the image. You can see it for yourself if you rename the image to a “.txt” and open it in a text editor. Part of that message says that it’s “not safe to talk here anymore.” Does that mean we’ll have a different interaction with Stella than a daily puzzle? Will we interact with Wayland instead?

Some Students have noticed that the Ancient Societies Powers That Be seem to be making parts of this experience up as they go along. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but if it’s the case, I like what the PTB have come up with this time. Challenges on a regular schedule are fun but can get repetitive easily. Also, this is the first time that I feel a part of the story. We’ve chosen lines, solved puzzles, and formed communities with one another, but we’ve hardly interacted with Stella. In comments on challenges, sure. And we’ve talked to Angela Sanning. But nothing we’ve done has changed anything. It’s starting to feel like we matter.