"Let's begin with the chieftain" inside of a large tent situated within the undead oasis, about a two dozens desert orcs and single man, who looked very much like a human, had been tightly bound and were under the watch of multiple warriors of the dead, including Ir'Houwl herself, who just casually took a seat in a corner.
She pointed to the orcish leader, who had been granted the right to get his eroded flesh back for the purpose of the interrogation, making the ivory-tusked fool appear even grimmer that he already was, he tried to struggled against the restraints, but that amount to nothing, and only got him a chipped blade pressed against his throat.
"Now, now… The patient is just a little bit stressed" the bird-headed undead raised his hands and stepped up to the chieftain, pulling out scalpel out of his sleeves like some sort of magician.
"Why don't we extract those two toothy protuberances to start? I do wonder if it is ivory as I know it or if it simply looks like it-" his pointy beak got dangerously close to just poking the orc's eye out.
"But first, I need to ask a few questions… What do you know about the term 'Undeviginti'?"
The chieftain grumbled in displeasure and seemed like he wasn't going to respond until his gaze fell upon the scalpel again.
"...It is the name of the deity of the humans, I think…" he said, his eyes darting from side to side just to make sure he wasn't losing his tribesmen respect by actually answering the question.
"Ask the armless guy! He knows more than me!" redirecting focus away from him, the orc hoped that the bird-headed thing would just move on and forget about him, that thing was seriously creeping him out alongside some of the guards around, he hadn't been able to tell that something was off with Ir'Houwl, but some of the undeads in here were very clearly corpses to any onlookers, the doctor himself had nothing but a bird skull for a head.
And many others were husks or otherwise completely dried-up for the most part, with only one big guy that stood behind all the captives that was bloated and looked as though he was going to explode into a rain of putrid filth any second from now.
"Are you telling me that you've lived your entire life feasting on locusts, and never once got to learn about the god worshipped by the humans? You took residence in one of their towns, did you not? There must be more settlements, towns or even a city nearby, is there not?"
The chieftain wanted to back away as the medic started to swing the scalpel around like a raving lunatic, the blade nearing dangerously close to his tusks, threatening to leverage one right out in a surgery that could not be called as such.
"S-Stop flailing around! There are towns and a city further away from here! We, the orcs, used to be employed by the servants of Prime Undeviginti that resided here, but their oracle foresaw something, and all of them went to settle a new city and towns well away! N-Now, it is controlled by a few stragglers, servants of Illusory Undeviginti, I believe, I don't know for sure! These guys don't speak our language and are just trying to kill us!" the orc chieftain blurted out the most he could tell, and once he stopped, he threw a few glances around, feeling every ounce of respect his fellows once held for him just fading away as he easily folded and did exactly as asked.
"Well, that's better, see? You can be a good boy, big loaf" the medic laughed his coccyx off under the glare of the chieftain.
"Orc chieftain" the medic grew perfectly silent and stepped aside as the minor lord spoke, giving cold sweat to the living.
This woman was not the only threat around, but she was the scariest one for sure, it wasn't a matter of inflicting suffering, it was sheer presence and authority, he had been too full of himself to notice it without being given a taste, but now, he knew for certain that he should mind his tone around Ir'Houwl, she had the poise of a real leader, one just needed to see how the bird-skulled undead acted when her voice sounded out.
"Is your tribe the only one in the area?" she asked, and he swallowed his saliva before answering.
"Yes… We used to be larger than that, but the sudden loss of our food source got us in trouble with some Baleisables…"
"The big things who move around in the sand?"
"Ah, the sand whales… I see- Then, if you are the best that is available…" she began, making the orc frown as he felt insulted but wasn't certain why "...I would like to push back the day of your blessing, and have you swear allegiance to our empire, and work for us, think of is as a job contract with an indefinite duration"
"Indefinite duration?" repeated the chieftain.
"Until I say that you are no longer needed" she precised.
"You shall get food and access to lodging in that town you were squatting, in exchange of your utter loyalty, I promise to not have you killed, or tortured, for the duration of our contract"
Normally, one would want to speak a critique as the way it was worded made it rather obvious what the outcome would be anyways, but it wasn't like the chieftain was in any position to negotiate even the slightest of details here, he wasn't standing on equal ground with Ir'Houwl.
"Very well" he agreed after a few seconds.
"Grandiose, someone bring the binding contracts in, doctor, move on to the next one" she went silent again as the medic walked toward the human, who was tied up a distance away from the orcs.
He had been stripped of his equipment, the dagger he had held currently on the a nearby table alongside the weapons and and such of the orcs, it was all due analysis just in case there was something to be learned from it, even if crude and of poor quality, the crafting method might still be new, and new was great, the undeads of the forge and the thinking skulls would figure out how to turn a crappy technique into a magnificent one eventually, or find a usage somewhere, they were very good at that.
"Would you mind telling us your name, good sir?" the doctor approached his arms behind his back.
"Why don't you go stare up at the sky instead?"
"Very aggressive, this one might require a little bit of discipline… What do you think, Lord Ir'Houwl?"
"I approve for the usage of non-lethal force"
"Very well, Lord Ir'Houwl"