Pronounced with some
emphasis, alright and okay are often used to signal that the speaker's moving on to another part of the story, but kind of giving the listener a cue to bear in mind everything they've heard so far before the story continues... like saying Alright, now that I told you all that, here's what happened next... In this usage, they're a lot like
anyhow, at any rate, etc., except that these often follow a long or complicated deviation from the story and signal that the speaker is
finally getting back to the original story.