👁️‍🗨️ The Watch Begins — Verse I

“Not every trial begins with blood. Some begin in silence. With footsteps. With eyes that do not blink.”

The next installment of Orphan is now live. This marks the beginning of the Night Watch, one of the largest free-roam segments to date—where danger is ambient, layered, and hidden in whispers.

🜂 What’s New in This Release:

• 🖥️ A complete UI overhaul 

 The game’s interface has been reworked from the ground up: a darker, more cosmic tone. New splash intro, atmospheric sidebars, sacred UI pages for future magicks and secrets.

• ✍🏻 ~15,000 new words across 30+ passages 

 Primarily focused on the Academy / Ascender Route as you step into the Night Watch—a test not just of skill, but of presence & perception.

• 🌫️ Explore throughout Highrock's dormitories. 

 The first of many free-roam environments to come.

• 🗡️ Rewritten Goblin Thief encounter 

 More depth. More options. More ruinous desire. 

(Per your votes in The Flame’s Demand.)

• 🎼 New music & sound FX 
• 🖼️ 7 new images, not including UI elements

🩸 Notes:

• This release covers roughly the first third of the Night Watch arc. More to come in the next few installments.
• Next Flame’s Demand poll opens this week. Let me know what you’d like to see take shape.
• Many more images coming in the not-too-distant future!

Thank you again for your support, your presence, and patience. If you love what this world is becoming, I’d be honored if you shared it.

“The Harrowing has not yet begun. But the shadows are watching.”

🔥 Support the Flame. Shape the Story.
Become a *patronus* to access dev logs, vote on story branches, new scenes and lore drops in weekly polls, and explore forbidden fragments the public never sees: 📎 Patreon.com/ExaltedText

—Truth @ Exalted Text