The Vetala, a ghost that haunts corpses to play tricks, hung upside down from a tree in the necropolis. Corpse Habitation. It saw a massive, bipedal hippopotamus figure patrolling near a tomb entrance.
"A guardian," the Vetala rasped through the dead throat of its host. "I love a challenge."
It dropped from the tree, shambling toward the goddess. "Answer me this, Hippo-Woman..." it began, preparing a Riddle of Binding. "What walks on four legs in the morning..."
Taweret turned. She held an ivory knife, and her eyes were filled with the protective fury of a mother.
The Wrong Audience
"I have no time for games," Taweret grunted.
She charged. Nile Matron's Maw.
The Vetala tried to dodge, to mist-shift, to finish its joke. But hips that can crush crocodiles are surprisingly fast.
Taweret grabbed the animated corpse by the shoulders. She opened her jaws—part hippo, part crocodile, part lion—and bit the head off the vessel in a single motion.
Essence Withdrawal failed because there was no vessel left to withdraw from. The Vetala was forcibly ejected, a naked spirit shivering in the presence of a deity who ate demons for breakfast. Taweret spat out the skull and brandished her knife. The Vetala shrieked and fled into the ether, looking for a less violent library to haunt.