Solutions:
Run Away!
The key was to interpret the unusual prompt as an instruction and "change the direction" of the starred entries by swapping the letters R (Right) and L (Left), and then find a synonym for the modified word elsewhere in the grid:
LEPER -> REPEL ->
DISGUST
COLLECT -> CORRECT ->
EMEND
HALLOW -> HARROW ->
MORTIFY
REELED -> LEERED ->
OGLED
MOLAR -> MORAL ->
NOBLE
The first letters of the synonyms spell out
DEMON, which is the answer.
(Is there any among us who
wouldn't change direction upon spotting a demon?)
"On The Rebound" On The Rebound
Shocking as it may seem, the mechanism devised by DrTom is a pun. If you take the letters which "bound" the letters RE, you get GAGABALL:
P.S. Slightly interesting story about "Run Away!": I am in a Discord server for puzzle constructors, and when I had the idea for this one I asked if anyone could think of good words which remain valid words when the Ls and Rs are swapped. Well, literally six minutes later Sam Cappleman-Lynes (who by the way is one of the best Sudoku solvers in the world) sent me a computer-generated list of every possible such word pair in the English language. My favorite of these was:
ALQUIFOUXES / ARQUIFOUXES
However after some deliberation I decided not to include this one in the puzzle.
Till tomorrow then!
![Image](https://media.giphy.com/media/ES4Vcv8zWfIt2/giphy.gif)