Severed

A **Severed** is a hostile found in the Crimson Wastes. On death, this hostile drops 29 Obolites.

## Attacks

* Fires purple bullets in a shotgun spread from their hand.
* Teleporting melee, telegraphed by a trailing red line behind the player for about 1.5-2 seconds.
	+ Internally nailing the timing is the best way to dodge this melee, but to help get an understanding of the timing, there are two other ways to dodge this melee.
		- One method is to wait until you can see the Severed come back in sight next to you, and then dodge after. Notably, this requires your attention to be on the red line behind you, which is where the Severed will appear from.
		- Another method is to, right after seeing the Severed vanish, count "one-one thousand, two-one thousand," and then dodge. This requires seeing the Severed right as they vanish and the red line right as it appears. If you see the red line late and then start to count, you may not dodge in time.
* At close range, this hostile splashes their sword twice, causing energy waves to travel out from the sword.
* Fires a special **BLUE ORB** encased by a light orange orb. While this orb travels, it spawns **ORANGE ORBS**, which expand out upon creation, behind it in a spiral pattern.
* Leap attack followed by a Red Ring that expands out from the impact zone.
* Can fire a stream of **RED ORBS** at the player.
* Can teleport around the room, searching for different angles against the player.
	+ Because of this teleportation, this makes the Severed one of the only hostiles that isn't stopped by a closed area door.

## Description

The Severed are all that remains of the sentients, quite literally severed from the Hivemind long before the collapse of their society. As a result of being cut off, the Severed formed their own society out in the Desert. Over time, they began to morphologically differ from their still connected brethren for unclear reasons.

## Databank Entries

### Research Level 1

A sentient lifeform named as "the Severed" in the xeno-type writings. They share a physiological similarity to the "normal" sentients, so presumably these individuals are the result of [UNDEFINED ERROR]. Unable to communicate with them as they seem to attack indiscriminately before contact can be established. Encountered individuals all seem to share a [PARSING ERROR] right forearm which they are able to use to shoot [UNKNOWN REFERENCE] projectiles. At close range they utilize a sword to attack or grab and keep their target in a damaging hold. Through so-far unknown means they are able to teleport over short distances.

### Research Level 2

Neurological scans indicate detectable [UNDEFINED ERROR] yet significant trauma, despite being healthy on the cellular level. Expected nerve damage, based on physical ailments and [UNKNOWN VARIABLE] surprisingly not present. It is as though their thoughts continue in agonizing stream-of-consciousness pathways only and until hitting a dead end, turning around, and repeatedly enduring the same processes.

### Research Level 3

-#/:;-single-mindedness revulsion. "Experimentation subjects..." From her vantage, they are ants with each twitching limb plucked out... and they do not even seem to notice. Appearing trapped within their own minds: an unending painful struggle to reach something they have forgotten yet ceaselessly pursue=^/\*;.