This tale begins in a small tribal settlement in a frozen hallscape known as the Silent Galciers. For the longest time Lady Ceostra wanted to obtain a rarity from the land here as a means of showing her clan's capability. It was a beast no other clan had caught, and very few mages could fight without sustaining many injuries. Kaori had taken up the task after entering Lady Ceostra's room and spotting the notice on her desk. She didn't want any of the others to go since it was dangerous, and didn't tell Lady Ceostra for the same reason. Upon 'borrowing' the page, Kaori had set out to the settlement to make her preparations for the hunt.
Much to her luck, the local people were welcoming of outsiders. The notice Lady Ceostra had didn't include many details, only that she wanted to obtain a Wooly Mammoth. Kaori had met with the leader of the local group and spoke with him about the task, stating that she wished to bring glory to her ally's clan. "If it's glory you want, then you'll want to bring in the alpha. He's the biggest of them all, and no one dares attack him." were his exact words. That was how Kaori decided she'd go after the biggest and baddest of the herd, and knew that she'd need a plan for it.
Kaori had spent several months in the village preparing for the hunt. She'd worked up a plan, and even made arrangements for transport. The tent she was given on the far side of the settlement contained twenty, twenty-five foot long reels of rope and an equal number of thick spikes for each end of the rope. She'd gotten in touch with a man from Neutral Ground to have a shipment of guns made and delivered that'd fire the spikes deep into the ice to tie the target down. Lady Ceostra wasn't a cruel woman, and neither was Kaori; neither could harm an animal light heartedly.
In the time Kaori was waiting on the shipment, she'd used one such weapon she already had with her for use on smaller game to train some of the tribe's hunters. At first they were awful at aiming them, and lacked the ability to compensate for recoil; but, in time they learned. The only problem was that there was one extra gun and rope, and the shipment was yet to arrive. As noon hit over the tribe, Kaori pulled out her iLac and called the manufacturer. "Hello?" the man replied on the other end. "This is Kay, I ordered twenty-five rail cannons from you a few months back. I was wondering what the status of the order was." Kaori replied, getting straight to business. "Ah, yes. I finished the order and sent it off a week ago. It's traveling by foot, so I hired one of those guildmage folk to escort it. I explained they were being used to capture a dangerous animal without hurting it so they'd know they weren't escorting weapons of mass destruction; though I do hope they didn't get lost, or worse." her contact responded. "Thanks, I'll await the arrival." Kaori said before hanging up the line. It was roughly a week and some spare time from Neutral Grounds to Rose Garden, and from there a ferry could be used to avoid some walking.
The village was fairly small, only consisting of thirty or so adults and five children. The outside of it was lined with whale ribs, arranged so they curved outward to prevent wild animals from hopping the wall. The houses were made of logs with the exception of Kaori's which was a fur tent since it had to be quickly set up. A fire inside cast a warm, orange glow and kept it from getting cold. The townsfolk were all wearing thick, fur coats and had a decent tan to them; showing they were frequently outside. Being so far north, the settlement got several months of sunlight before getting several months of moon so the sun exposure warranted a darker complexion. When the escort arrived, she would be lead to Kaori's tent where the masked woman would be combing over some documents at a makeshift desk.