looking and examining

look (looking) parses bare look, l, and look around. It rerenders the room: name and description (a first visit prefers the room's first-time description and marks the room visited), the "You can see …" list (scenery excluded), and the contents of open containers and supporters in view. In a dark room all of that collapses to room_dark.

examine (examining) parses examine X, x X, inspect X, check/view/observe X (ADR-230 D4), look at X, and look [carefully] at X. The adverb adds nothing; the separate examining_carefully id it used to parse to is gone (ADR-230 D3a). It needs only visibility, not reach. The reply is the entity's description; an open container or supporter adds a contents line, and a live detail sentence can ride on the end of the description. Chord's gated phrase detail while <condition>: override (chord-language.md) is exactly that seam. The message key is trait-aware, and the first match wins: examined_container, examined_supporter, examined_switchable, examined_readable, examined_wearable, or examined_door, falling back to plain examined.

The author writes:

create the Observatory
  a room

  A domed room of cold air and colder brass.

create the brass telescope
  aka telescope
  scenery, switchable
  in the Observatory

  A long brass telescope aimed at the slot in the dome.

  phrase detail while it is on:
    Its clockwork drive ticks as it tracks the sky.

create the star chart
  aka chart
  in the Observatory

  A chart of the northern constellations.

create the player
  starts in the Observatory

The player sees:

> look
Observatory
A domed room of cold air and colder brass.

You can see a star chart here.

> examine the telescope
A long brass telescope aimed at the slot in the dome.

> turn on the telescope
The brass telescope hums to life.

> examine the telescope
A long brass telescope aimed at the slot in the dome. Its clockwork drive ticks as it tracks the sky.

The scenery telescope stays out of the "You can see …" list but examines fine, and the detail while phrase appends its sentence to the description only while the condition holds.

Interceptors: on examining it / after examining it on the target (the robin in chord-language.md rides this seam). Looking consults no interceptor clauses, since there is no entity to hang them on; use the room's after entering it or an on every turn daemon instead.

Brief mode is not implemented: verbose is hardcoded on, so room_description_brief is unreachable.