MISSION REPORTS 9
PB and Bakal patrol around the jewellery shops and high end fashion boutiques of Silver Row. PB points out to his new colleague a number of places his clones had died trying to stop the Odd Squad's runaway cars.
At one point they spot a small boy try to break into the Starlight Cafe, which has been closed in recent months for lengthy refurbishment. The boy is midway through throwing a brick in the window when PB shouts for him to stop.
So instead the child flings the brick at PB, with incredibly accuracy. It arcs through the air and conks the hero on the head, knocking him down with a nasty gash.
Bakala slowly hobbles over, as the boy begins to run away. But this was no ordinary boy. This was Ectoboy. Possessed by the spirit of Antonine, who had driven him to hunt at night for mental manipulators. Following a lead, he had hoped to get Sol Heart who had been known to frequent this cafe. Trapped within his own body, Ectoboy calls out for help and it comes from an unlikely source: the spirit of HellTooth (who had been killed nearby) comes before him, filled with ferocity, and protective pride for his ex-teammate. In life, HellTooth had tried so hard to keep Ectoboy on the team. Now in death, he wasn't about to give up on the child. In his mind, HellTooth and Antonine do battle until the spectral essence is both worn out, dispersed among the brickwork of Silver Row.
Ectoboy comes to, waking in an alley where he'd collapsed, with PB and Bakala looking down on him.
"Sorry about the brick," he says, "But you won't believe what just happened to me..."
Outcome:
Ectoboy is no longer possessed
House Edge +1 rep in Silver Row
PB and Tin Soldier patrol the residential streets of Montgomery. While strolling through the large Montgomery park, two mercs from out of town watch them through binoculars from an abandoned treehouse. One is a very large, muscular man dressed in biker leathers, with some rough grey facepaint to obscures his features. The other is a lanky woman wearing army fatigues with excessive shoulder spikes and a bulky gas mask. She's carrying a shoulder-mounted cannon. It's Brick and Mortar.
Mortar shoots her titular gun into the air, and a mortar bomb whistles down towards PB & Tin Soldier. Tin Soldier sees it coming and shelters his teammate with his own body. The explosion is muted as most of the shell is absorbed by Tin Soldier's body. As he recovers from the shock, Brick races in and tries to tackle the veteran hero. Despite Brick's immense strength and toughness, Tin Soldier holds firm. PB spams out clones to hold the mercenary back, only slightly slowed down by some of them being taken out by another mortar shell.
Seeing the tide turn against them, Brick fights his way free and gets back to his motorbike and the mercs flee the scene.
House Edge: Success
Brick and Mortar enter the rogue's gallery
Tin Soldier: +1 fame
PB: +1 fame
Outcome: House Edge +1 rep in Montgomery
Hijank, with assistance from Bitter Candy, makes a new set of legs for the ones which were recently blown off. As Hijank is only paraplegic, and not quadraplegic, she didn't need new arms. Prosthetics aren't her speciality, but she understands the principles and it wasn't hard to pirate some good designs.
"Better than the old ones," she says, jumping on the spot with gyroscopic stabilisation.
Bitter Candy copies the design and makes a minuscule pair of pneumatic stilts that he can keep in his pocket so he can run and jump much further when tiny.
Outcome: Hijank gains trait "Robotic Legs". Bitter Candy gains trait "Machine-assisted tiny legs".
Hijank is just trying out her new legs on one the long terraces overlooking the water, on the newly created base on the river in Old Town. A speedboat zips along to the edge of the base, and with her long tentacles, Cephala climbs up onto the freshly wrought stone platform, and pulls up a very small Keros, and a normal sized Slugnut.
"We're here to bust you out, Doc," Slugnut says.
[Contested team cohesion: 2+2+(4 Watch traits - 2 ex-team = 2)=6
"They're good kids," Doc says, "But I don't fancy my life chances here..."
Keros is dropped back into the boat to keep the motor running. Doc Hijank gathers up her tools, and the original blueprints for the power-nullifying belt.
"Leaving so soon?" Bitter Candy says, confronting her in the base's lab.
Slugnut steps in the door levels two pistols at the hero and he shrinks out of sight.
Moments later, the reunited Odd Squad are out on the water, speeding away on their speedboat, where, from the riverside, they're spotted by an old foe. PB is walking with Lord Bombarrel when he sees his team's enemy out on the water.
"Throw a bomb at them!" PB says, and Lord Bombarrel reaches inside his special bomb pouch and lobs a golden orb in the direction of the boat. It implodes in the water, sucking in a lot of river water into a single point which then explodes, filling the air with a thick mist. The speedboat manages to zip away before being caught by either the implosion or explosion, and the mist obscures their exit.
OUTCOME:
Doctor Hijank joins the Odd Squad. The Watch cannot partake in the Clemency scheme until Doctor Hijank is in custody (or dead).
Doctor Hijank gains trait "Expects Watch reprisal"
House Edge gains +1 rep for patrolling Old Town
Psyla looks into Black Box, trying to read them. She can't mind-read, but she can mentally communicate from afar, linking people up, and building a matrix of connections between those she knows. These matrices are then used to power her feats of telekinesis, lifting things with invisible tethers between her and others. If Black Box hears her communications, they don't say anything. Even thinking about the person is difficult, and requires constant refocusing. They can be looked at quite easily, but thoughts about them are hard to keep straight. No one is now sure why they even hired Black Box. What did they do that was so impressive during the tryouts? Who knows. Now that she has a tether on Black Box, while she can't reason anything about the person, she knows that if they go anywhere unusual, she's sure to find out.
Black Box, Void and Retry cruise across Greenbelt on patrol. For the patrol, Retry gains reactive adaptation from a pastry, and Void is able to control his pheromones. They hear a howling from a patch of woodlands, and they get out of the car to go have a look.
In the woods, they find Bloodmoon in wolf-form gnawing a deer carcass. She bares her fangs at the heroes.
Void steps forward slowly and he projects an air of calm with his temporary pheromone control. Retry sees its safe, only experiencing one version of events where she pushes ahead and gets into a fight, turning into a werewolf herself. That doesn't come to pass, because Void keeps everything chill.
Bloodmoon goes back to ignoring them, and the heroes depart on good terms.
OUTCOME: The Watch gain +1 rep in Greenbelt
Jack Dandy and Haste take a brisk walk around Atomic Heights. She asks him about his films, and he gets the scoop on where she was able to hire so many goons.
Outcome: Dandy Lads gain +1 rep in Atomic Heights
The Bro Club leave the city for a team bonding day, up state. They spend a day playing paintball in the woods and then go out for beers and crash at a cheap hotel. During the paintball match, they split into two teams, and Pincushion carries his teammates, Lexicon and Brouhaha, to victory with his pinpoint accurate marksmanship and quick trigger-finger. Even Joshua Tree is impressed, despite being the target of many of the paintballs.
During the beers, Brouhaha entertains the gang with tales of his villain days, where he blasted in the doors of a local druglord with his sound blasts, accidentally incapacitating everyone inside by the huge cloud of powdered narcotics that were blown into the air of the den.
A fun day is had by all. When they return to Zircon City, everything is more or less how they left it.
The Advisor gains trait "Friends with Brouhaha"
Bolt Blue gains trait "Respects Joshua Tree"
Joshua Tree gains trait "Respects Pincushion"
Pincushion gains trait "Dedicated to the Bro Club"
Lexicon gains trait "Admires Pincushion"
Brouhaha gains trait "Respects Pincushion"
Ponche and Longfire take a day out to get to know one another. They go drinking, which Ponche knows best. Longfire insists on fireball whiskeys and the pair soon have a night they will struggle to remember in the morning. They awake in the same bed, the sheets lightly scorched.
"We should do that again!" Ponche says, her hangover clearing quickly due to her powers. Longfire groans and sticks his head under the pillow. Still, it happens again the next night, and the next and until they know it, everyone considers them something of an item...
Ponche gains trait "Dating Longfire". Longfire gains trait "Dating Ponche"
Endless Highway and Swan Dive experiment some more with their powers. Working together, they construct a basic harness so that once launched into the air by the ejector on their car, Swan Dive is able to glide with Endless Highway attached. Using her gliding much like he would a vehicle, Endless Highway is able to enable something more akin to true flight by combining their power. When together in this way, there'll be no beating their speed and mobility. The pair enjoy going fast through the air, so it's a perfect match.
Outcome: Endless Highway and Swan Dive can fly when together (but require jumping off a building or being launched into the air to get the initial start).
Película, keen on saving her friend, tries to investigate what's happened to Camarada. After the other heroes are done looking in on the Cathedral, she sneaks along and looks around the outside. There's no way in or up when faced with the smooth stone surface of the vast ten storey wall that now surrounds the church.
As she's lurking about trying to work out a way forward, she bumps into Cursed Legacy on patrol. Spawn of Satan and Monkeypaw are joined by a teenager called Reflux, dressed in a midnight blue supersuit, and the newly released Public Enemy, who is still dressed in his prison jumpsuit and has a very punchable face.
"Do you know of a way in? I need to see if Camarada is safe."
"I could fire-step in..." Spawn says, "But it's too risky. We're waiting until the full assault."
As they're speaking, a mob of blood-bound residents emerge from a side-street and rush the heroes. Caught on the outside of the fence, their binding is still not completely worn off. The heroes are soon surrounded by a dozen men and women of all ages, with makeshift weapons.
Película, throws up distracting projections but the crazed people aren't interested in their own safety and crash straight through them. The teenager is almost overwhelmed, but the mob is soon distracted by Public Enemy, focusing their ire on him. Monkey Paw keeps the mob unlucky, while Reflux changes their clothes to lead, weighing them all down in a big pile. A few nights safely locked inside, should be enough to clear their heads.
Outcome: Cursed Legacy patrol success.
Spawn of Satan: +1 fame
Monkey Paw: +1 fame
Reflux: Gains power knowledge "Cloth-to-Lead"
Public Enemy +1 fame
Cursed Legacy gain +1 rep in Montgomery.
Película gains trait "Hates crowds", and gains an opportunity.
Zirconia looks into the matter of Cutting Edge. After ascertaining that nobody has seen them in Montgomery for some time, she decided to check out the last place they had been known to be. She picks over the ruin of Bill Cleaver's base, unafraid of injury with her impenetrable skin. She traces a serial number from a bit of machinery to a factory in Atomic Heights which manufactures generic machine parts for bespoke devices that various companies in the area use. Wearing proper clothes and a balaclava to disguise herself for the sake of the team's reputation, she walks into the office of this factory, breaking open the pass-card locked door with her impervious fists. A security guard tries to taze her, but it doesn't affect her and she ignores him. She turfs an office worker out of his chair and rifles through the company's database.
She gets the info she needs before the cops turn up: Bill Cleaver had been using technology originally created by the E Corporation. Perhaps they would know what happened to Cutting Edge.
While PUNCH!'s base is being expanded by the space-warper Escher, Extra and Princess Professional take a very pleasant stroll together along the waterfronts of Dusk Beach. At one time, they see a thick mist descend on the river, but otherwise nothing happens.
Outcome: PUNCH! gain +1 rep in Dusk Beach
Spork miniaturises the power-containment field that he'd learned how to use from the belt. He weaponizes it as bola launcher. This device which looks a bit like a cross bow, launches two ball-bearings connected by a wire which is charged with the nullification field. If shot at someone, it should tie them up and nullify them in one go! This is much more powerful than just doing one or the other, and should be a total game changer in the field. Or so says Spork. At length.
Spork creates an Antievobolauncher, or Bolauncher for shortA small group of well-known heroes gathers to assess the siege.
There's Nitrox from Protection Inc., the heroic air-walker with the unstoppable power attack. He's keen on finding the best way to rescue Camarada. He's joined by Brutus, ruthless power-stealer, and new recruit for the ever-growing Watch.
The Chorist makes up an unlikely third. The handsome singer, still covered in burns from his recent mission, is representing PUNCH! The last time his team were in front of this cathedral things didn't go so well, but they're being paid to turn up this time.
"This everyone?" Nitrox asks.
Brutus narrows his eyes and looks around. "There's someone else coming."
Lavateen surges onto the scene, taking a selfie video of herself riding a wave of molten lava across the road, costing the municipality thousands of dollars of damage to the public highway.
"So like, this is the massive wall I'm going to melt through!" Lavateen says to her millions of loyal followers online.
Brutus shakes his head slowly. "We just surveying things today."
Lavateen continues yammering away on the live feed about the important mission that she's about to undertake, while the others get to work. Nitrox walks into the sky and surveys the cathedral from above, while Brutus walks a complete circuit on the ground level. He occasionally touches spots along the stone wall, weakening them with his radioactive touch so he can use his X-Ray vision to get a good look into the grounds beyond. While he struggles to get a good view through the thick walls of the cathedral beyond, he can see straight through the doorways and stained-glass windows.
The Chorist gets them all to cover their ears while he tries something new: he sings a song loud enough to echo over the containment wall. This song doesn't send anyone to sleep, but rather acts as an ear worm. Those inside are compelled to hum this infectious ditty, spreading it among them all, weakening their attention.
The heroes eventually reconvene to make a plan of action. Lavateen puts her phone down for a moment and listens. They've figured out where the main mass of the possessed parishioners will be, and so if the heroes burst through a window on the east side, they will be able to make their way to the stairwell heading down into the crypts where they can deal with the bulk of Dark Humor without encountering the footsoldiers.
OUTCOME
Mission: PUNCH!, The Watch, Protection Inc.: Success
The Chorist: Gains trait "Cathedral invasion expert"
Lavateen: Gains trait "Cathedral invasion expert"
Brutus: Gains trait "Cathedral invasion expert"
Nitrox: Gains trait "Cathedral invasion expert"
Everyone in the cathedral grounds: Gains trait "Infectious Humming"
Mission Reward: The Cathedral assault will no longer be [Deadly] or [Harrowing]. PUNCH! gain +1 mercenary income.
In the Docks a ship lands filled with Crimson Plague fanatics. No one was there to stop them and the Docks are now overrun.
The Doppelswap Fame bonus expires. The Stopped Antonine fame bonus expires.
OPPORTUNITY PHASE 9The Watch gain +1 crossover: Watchtower
Protection Inc1. After conversing with Cursed Legacy, Reflux invites Película over for a late night movie night, up on a roof, projecting a film onto the back of a billboard. She considers it, but also feels guilty because she wants to be her freshest to save Camarada.
Offer: Película gains "Friends with Reflux", Reflux gains "Friends with Película", but has trait "Tired" for the next mission.
RECRUITMENT PHASE 10Removing Team MembersPlayers may remove existing team members in one of four ways:
Let Go: Thing didn't work out. Team member leaves. -1 attendee at the next tryout (this malus can stack if you fire multiple heroes).
Run Out: They'll never work in this town again! Team Leader gains "Hates [team member]" and the team member gains "Hates [team leader]" and leaves the team and gains -1 fame from the ignominy.
Revolt: The team leader is thrown out! The old leader gains "Hates [team name]", -1 fame from the ignominy and leaves the team. Pick a new team leader.
Hand in: Any team member with Infamy greater than their Fame may be handed in to custody. The ex-team mate gains "Hates [team name]" and is placed in custody, and is also barred from the Clemency program. This is the only way of removing a team member who is currently unreformed and on a team with Clemency.
Spinoff: Pick at least three team members (who have fame higher than their infamy, and have each been on at least one non-personal mission) and choose a new team name. They leave the team permanently to set up their own spin-off team in a nearby city (choose Stoney Island, Las Destinos, or Leadville).* Gain +1 team fame for each member lost this way, and randomly gain an opportunity every opportunity phase or a cross-over from the new team.
*Stoney Island: Small island town dominated by a carnival, once a tourist spot now completely overrun by Crimson Plague .
Las Destinos: Large city famed for its nightlife and casinos; like if Dusk Beach was a whole city.
Leadville: Medum-sized post-industrial city. Run down, lots of unemployed, a fertile recruiting ground for powered gangs.
HiringEveryone who has slots may either seek to recruit
one hero from the recruitment pool OR they may hold tryouts to fill all slots.
Due to the Mayor's Clemency: in addition to any other recruitment, teams may take one
one villain in custody onto their team (ignoring requirements like fame and max team size). Once they are redeemed (fame higher than infamy), you may recruit again in this way. Villains recruited still count towards your team size as normal. Villains have fame 0 by default.
You can't recruit someone with a higher fame than your team's fame. If two people try to recruit the same hero from the pool, I'll flip to see who gets to them first.
POSSIBLE TRYOUT ATTENDEES
Name | Known Powers | Traits | Fame
Atla | Can turn Gigantic | Happily Swapped, Serious, Resourceful | 0
Chap Stick | Glue Generation | Polite, Carefree, Ostentatious | 1
Toytown | Creating tiny automatons | Single-Minded, Hates Surprises, Genius | 2
Reverso | Long-Range Gravity Warping | Intense, Secretive, Loyal, Brawler, Respects Endless Highway, Suspicious of Ponche, Respects Longfire | 2
Lovehandles | Self-Inertia Manipulation | Hates Lynxx, Slovenly, Comedian, Destructive, Slow | 3
Captain Georgia | Super strength and durability linked to peanut consumption | Strong, Serious, Blunt | 4
Lady Lefant | Ranged Fabric Control | Ostentatious, Witty, Self-Assured, Hates Plumbaris | 8
Plumbaris | Ranged weight manipulation | Crude, Playful, Educated, Loves Lady Lefant | 9
Lavateen | Lava Generation, Social Media Manipulation | Teenager, Popular, Good Looking, Inauthentic, Coward, Cathedral Invasion Expert | 12
RIVAL TEAMS
CUTTING EDGE - Montgomery
Name | Known Powers | Traits | Fame
Thornrose (leader) | Flower blooming, Fencing | Vicious, Charming, Good-Looking, Forced To Work For Bill Cleaver | 2
Harpoodle | Can shoot claws | Vindictive, Image Obsessed, Dense, Forced To Work For Bill Cleaver | 3
Gaffer | Sand Control, Glass-Based Weapons | Neat, Clever, Irritable, Forced To Work For Bill Cleaver | 0
CURSED LEGACY - Hermitage
Spawn of Satan (leader) | Fireproof, Horns, Hellfire, Flame-Stepping, Stone-Fist | Child, Hates Joshua Tree, Satanic, Wild, One-Handed | 2
Monkeypaw | Bad luck aura | Ingenious, Depressive, Frugal, Reckless | 2
Reflux | Matter Transformation | Teenager, Vengeful, Determined, Distrusts Ectoboy | 0
Public Enemy | Hated By Everyone | Cowardly, Debater, Tolerant | 1
LEAGUE OF PARADISE - Upstate
Spit Feathers | Feather generation? | Impressionable, Inexperienced, Athletic | 1
Wiffle | Floating, Impervious | Ethereal, Calm, Accepting | 3
Mapsona | Other Teleportation | Practical, Analytical, Neurotic | 3
Songstress | Infectious Song | Enthusiastic, Melodic, Out-Of-Shape | 4
Windbow | Bow & Arrow Trick-shooting, Small object shaping | Strong, Crotchety, Old, Wise, | 7
RETIRED / OTHER WORK
Chiffon (Mari Chang) | Bakes pastries which grant powers | Introverted, Kind, Neurotic | 1
Marigold | Gold Transformation | Known Killer, Wealthy, Spendthrift, Fear of Drowning | 3
Bloodmoon | Werewolf | Known Killer, Incisive, Sensitive Nose, In Touch With Inner Wolf, Hates Johnny Knifehands, Anti-Civ | 3 (2 infamy)
The Woman Lamp | Flaming Hair, Fire Bolts, Jet-Fire Propulsion | Hates Mimesis, Tempestuous, Trigger-Fuse, Forgotten | 4
Don Jetman | Production logistics, Flying suit | Control Freak, Self-Assured, Muscular, Wealthy, Owner of Advanced Widget Enterprises | 10
You may substitute team infamy for team fame when recruiting villains.
ACTIVE
Name | Known Powers | Traits | Infamy | Motivation
Brick | Enhanced strength and toughness | Risk-Taking, Muscular, Greedy | 2 | Fulfilling mercenary contracts
Mortar | Scrap gun creation | Sharpshooter, Careful, Ungainly | 2 | Fulfilling mercenary contracts
Muskrat | Toxic Gas Generation | Known Killer, Careless, Hardy | 3 | Getting the respect he feels he's due
Reinita | Age-Draining | Known Killer, Youthful, Heartless | 4 | Immortality
THE LEGION OF WICKEDNESS
Baron von Woof (leader) | Superior Throwing Arm, Canine senses | Gimmicky, Hates Cats, Brash, Respects Nitrox, Dog Companions | 3 | Becoming Zircon City's most infamous villain
Gigaman | Enhanced strength and durability, Laser eyes, Flight | Insane, Unreliable, Friendly, Animal-Lover | 2 | Smashing Annoying Ants
Buzzoff | Drone tinkering | Credulous, Easy-going, Grifter, Animal-Lover | 2 | Covering the cape (under)world
Escher | Permanent Architectural Warping | Irritating, Wily, Happily Swapped | 2 | Money
THE CRIMSON PLAGUE
Doctor Black | Good shot? | Indefatigable, Power-Supremacist, Prepared | 7 | Assassinating Mental Manipulators
Justinian the Bloody | Telekinetic Blood-Manipulation, Blood Shields | Cruel, Determined, Charismatic, Prepared, Known Killer, Legend | 15 | Rule by the Evolved
DARK HUMOR
Sanguine | Blood-based mind control | Cunning, Cruel, SHE-Supremacist, Infectious Humming | 4 | Demonstrate the supremacy of Evolved Kind
Phlegm | Pleasure-inducing fog | Lazy, Calm, Hedonistic, Infectious Humming | 3 | Have fun
Vile Viola Melancholy (in the Prelate's body) | Astral Projection? | Dissociative, Delusional, Self-Absorbed, Unpredictable, Infectious Humming | 3 |Discovering The Truth About The Exalt Project
THE ODD SQUAD
Slugnut | Pistol-shooting/loading | Quick, Ugly, Indefatigable | 7 | Flourishing of the Odd Squad
Keros | Immortal Wax Body | Fabulist, Fearless, Loves Cephala | 7 | Flourishing of the Odd Squad
Cephala | Regenerating Tentacle Arms | Known Killer, Broken Probation, Ruthless, Ingenious, Terrifying, One-Eyed, Stealth-Tech, Selfish | 8 | Flourishing of the Odd Squad
Doctor Hijank | Devices that control and transform | Old, Clever, Kind, Enemy of the E Corp, Resourceful, Paraplegic, Robotic Legs, Expecting reprisals from The Watch | 8 Infamy | Flourishing of the Odd Squad
IN CUSTODY
Spyte | Poison barbs | Vindictive, Subtle, Incisive, Hates Cutting Edge | 1 (-1 fame) | Settling some scores
Choler | Reactive muscle-growth | Poetic, Angry, Imposing | 3 | Escape Sanguine's control
Marion Man | Puppetry (puppets and corpses) | Sinister, Clown, Prepared | 5 | Build a vast clown army
Lazard | Deadly Lasers | Known Killer, Bloodthirsty, Unpredictable | 6 | Destroy the moon
CRIMSON PLAGUE
Dangerfield | Terrain Warping, Traps | Cunning, Perceptive, Activated Sleeper Agent | 0 (4 while under the effect of sleeper agency) & 4 fame | Doing Crimson Plague bidding
Johnny Knifehands | Knife Hands | Known Killer, Washout, Angry, Quick, Hates Bloodmoon | 3 | Knocking the Heroes Down A Peg
Master Tusk | Staff Fighting? | Strategic, Learned, Power-Supremacist | 4 | Recruiting agents to the cause
Hypnobeat | Music-Powered Deep Suggestion | Misogynist, Calm, Power-Supremacist | 5 | Making sweet music
Anthrax | Advanced Biohacking | Slapdash, Quick, Power-Supremacist | 6 | Creating a superior life-form
DORMANT/RETIRED
Name | Known Powers | Traits | Infamy | Motivation
Bittern | Wings, Water control | Pacifist, Ecologist, Impressive | 4 | Saving the moorland habitat of local bird species
Suffrage | Teleport, was able to mind-swap others | Known Killer, Tired, Cruel, Righteous | 4 | Enjoying immense wealth
Bill Cleaver | None? | Brutal, Ambitious, Cunning | 5 | Reforming
Here's a reminder of the Tryout process, from the OP.
If you hold a tryout, 2d4 heroes will attend. You will fill all empty spots in your roster with heroes according to the criterion you pick. Unpicked heroes will remain in the recruitment pool for future rounds.
Criteria
Versatility: The widest range of powers will be picked.
Power: The most impressive powers will be picked.
Team Cohesion: The heroes who least despise one another and your existing team members will be picked.
Renown: Pick the most famous heroes first.
Now Public Enemy is reformed, Cursed Legacy will take Spyte with Clemency.
Constellation Aurora and Spider Knights have become NPC teams and will patrol Silver Row and Dusk Beach respectively. (Their owners are always welcome to return and take up the reigns again.)