diff --git a/docs/ISSUES.md b/docs/ISSUES.md
index 652844be..e979982e 100644
--- a/docs/ISSUES.md
+++ b/docs/ISSUES.md
@@ -97,6 +97,55 @@ Copy this block when adding a new issue:
 
 ---
 
+## #263 — Drudge Scrying Orb still occludes its particles after the composite-translucency fix
+
+**Status:** OPEN (deferred by user 2026-07-29)
+**Severity:** LOW (single known item; "very subtle" per user)
+**Component:** rendering / world translucency / particles
+
+**Symptom (user report):** wielded items subtly hid particle effects, "missing
+some translucent texture." The general fix landed as `16ed6e7c` (authored
+`Surface.Translucency` was baked into texture alpha only on the shared-atlas
+path; the per-instance composite paths — palette/texture overrides, i.e. most
+wielded loot — never applied it, so translucent parts painted alpha=1 and
+erased particles composited behind them). User confirms other items now render
+correctly; the **Drudge Scrying Orb** still shows traces of the occlusion.
+
+**Root cause / status:** the override-driven translucency loss is fixed and
+verified on other items. The orb residual matches the remaining ranked
+hypotheses from the 2026-07-29 investigation (transcript-level, not yet a
+research doc):
+- **H3 — ClipMap-only shell:** `IsOpaque` counts `Base1ClipMap` as opaque
+  (`WbDrawDispatcher.cs` `IsOpaque`, pipeline writes depth), so a
+  ClipMap-authored orb shell would depth-reject particles behind/inside it.
+  Only a divergence if retail composites that same surface blended.
+- **H2 — scope-split ordering:** interior roots draw unattached scene
+  particles (`AttachedObjectId == 0`) BEFORE `FlushLandscapeAlpha`
+  (`RetailPViewRenderer.cs` ~:774-780), so an unattached emitter composites
+  in a strictly earlier scope than every dynamic's mesh regardless of
+  distance.
+- Orb-specific authoring (interior particle system inside a glass sphere) is
+  the classic shape for both.
+
+**Discriminating probes (no new code needed):** `ACDREAM_WB_DIAG=1` (a
+translucent-looking orb part appearing in the opaque draw count = H3),
+`ACDREAM_PROBE_OUTSTAGE=1` (owner-id in the late-landscape particle set vs
+dynamics set = H2), `ACDREAM_DUMP_ENTITY=<orb setup id>`,
+`ACDREAM_HIDE_PART=<index>` to confirm the occluding part by construction.
+
+**Files:** `src/AcDream.App/Rendering/Wb/WbDrawDispatcher.cs` (IsOpaque /
+ClassifyBatches / DeferTransparentGroups), `src/AcDream.App/Rendering/TextureCache.cs`
+(`DecodeFromDats` bake), `src/AcDream.Core/Textures/SurfaceDecoder.cs`
+(`ApplyAuthoredTranslucency`), `src/AcDream.App/Rendering/ParticleRenderer.cs`
+(scope deferral). Related: #225 (RetailAlphaQueue, final visual gate pending),
+register rows AP-34/AP-21/AD-19.
+
+**Acceptance:** the Drudge Scrying Orb's particle effect reads through its
+shell like retail, wielded and on the ground, indoors and out, without
+regressing the #225 lifestone/candle compositing.
+
+---
+
 ## #262 — Run-on-the-spot at first login: no displacement until a recall reset
 
 **Status:** OPEN