Getting Around Ashenfall: Mounts, Lodestones & Shortcuts
Ashenfall is large and getting larger, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds has quietly built four separate ways to cross it — mounts, lodestone teleports, Agility shortcuts and the Recall spell. They solve different problems, and the one most groups under-use is the cheapest. Here is what each does, what it costs, and the one trade-off that catches Agility players out.
Mounts
| Mount | How you get it |
|---|---|
| Terrorbird | Complete The Wild Hunt quest in Fellhollow |
| Magic Carpet | Complete the first section of Icthlarin's Little Helper |
The terrorbird also grants +200 carry weight, while the carpet grants none — but the carpet jumps higher, takes less fall damage and is much faster across the desert. Both have customised variations, and there is a gotcha attached: "You will need to complete The Wild Hunt quest in Fellhollow to access the mount even if you unlock customisation options."
So unlocking a skin does not unlock a mount. If you have picked up a mount skin from a drop and cannot ride anything, the quest is what you are missing — and until it is done you may see a defunct "mount" prompt on your HUD, which Jagex list as a known issue.
Two more known issues worth recognising:
- Four of the Terrorbird mount drops all unlock the same variant, so collecting them does not give you four skins.
- Two greyed-out flying carpet mounts cannot be unlocked at all.
And the trade-off that matters: you earn no Agility XP while mounted. Jagex are blunt about it — "Stop cheating and get those knees up!" Since Agility raises your maximum carry weight at levels 50 and 75, riding everywhere costs you the skill that would let you carry more when you get there.
Lodestones
Lodestones are placed teleport points that appear on your map, and they run on Law Runes — which means Runecrafting level 50, the threshold that unlocks them.
Costs were halved on average in 0.11.2, and the carry-weight penalty was softened at the same time. Jagex's worked example is worth quoting because it makes the scale concrete:
At 388 carry weight, travelling "from the very tippy-top northern-most point in Fellhollow, all the way back to the lodestone in the Saradomin Temple" now costs 58 Law Runes — and "even being several times over the carry limit will now not cost you 1000 Law Runes."
The design intent was explicitly about un-anchoring bases. Jagex noted the change makes "moving from the same spot everyone builds a house in in Bramblemead Valley to somewhere a bit more ambitious less punishing to lodestone around from."
If your group has stayed in the starter valley because relocating felt expensive, that reason is largely gone.
Two lodestone bugs have been fixed and are worth knowing in case you hit stale advice: teleports placed at the edges of the map used to be one-way only because they failed to display, and teleporting via lodestone broke mount animations and VFX.
Agility Shortcuts and Recall
This is the under-used system, because it costs nothing but levels.
Kebbit Burrows are marked on your map, and you dig them up to open tunnels that cut across side routes. The catch is early: "In early Agility levels, you might take damage when failing to squeeze through unharmed, so be careful using the shortcuts on low HP."
Agility also hands you a mobility kit that changes how terrain reads:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Double jump | Jump, then jump again in mid-air |
| Aerial dash | A short horizontal dash to cross gaps — and to evade in combat |
| Windstep | Moved here from Runecrafting; at higher levels it floors enemies where you land |
| Breakfall | Roll out of falls at higher levels to reduce damage |
Recall is the one to set before anything risky. "Leave a runic marker on the ground, and then recast to teleport back to the initial marking spot." And it doubles as a safety net: "If you fall to your death while tethered, you'll also teleport back, and the tether will be consumed."
That matters because fatal falls still kill you regardless of Agility level. Recall catches exactly one of them.
Sprint costs less stamina as Agility levels, and jumping already dropped from 20 stamina to 10 in the combat rework — so the whole traversal economy got cheaper at both ends.
Choosing the Right One
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Crossing known ground with a full pack | Lodestone — carry weight barely penalises you now |
| Exploring unmapped terrain | On foot, so Agility levels while you go |
| Repeated trips on a known route | Kebbit Burrow shortcuts — free, once dug |
| A risky climb or descent | Recall, set before you start |
| Long overland travel where levelling does not matter | A mount |
| Crossing Umbral Sands | The Magic Carpet — walking is the hazard there |
The Umbral Sands case deserves specific mention. In that region Scorch afflicts you from prolonged sun exposure and "causes hydration to deplete rapidly" — so the usual advice to walk for Agility XP is actively bad. Take the carpet, or move shade to shade.
On a shared server, travel is worth coordinating. Lodestone placement is a group decision — a network covering everyone's projects beats several people placing their own — and Kebbit Burrow locations are shared knowledge once someone has dug them. A group that maps its shortcuts early moves noticeably faster than one that does not.
One final note for anyone levelling Agility deliberately: the skill "levels passively while you run across the world", so the traversal you were doing anyway is the training. The only thing that stops it is being mounted.
Practical tips
- The Terrorbird comes from The Wild Hunt in Fellhollow; the Magic Carpet from the first section of Icthlarin's Little Helper.
- A mount skin does not unlock a mount — the quest does. That defunct HUD prompt is a known issue.
- No Agility XP while mounted. Walk when you are levelling, ride when you are not.
- Lodestones need Law Runes, which means Runecrafting 50.
- Teleport costs were halved, and carry weight barely penalises you now — relocating your base is cheap.
- Kebbit Burrows are free travel once dug, but can damage you at low Agility.
- Set Recall before a risky climb. It catches exactly one fatal fall.
Running your own RuneScape: Dragonwilds server
Travel infrastructure is group infrastructure — a lodestone network and a mapped set of shortcuts are worth far more when they persist for everyone rather than living in one person's solo world. A gamever Dragonwilds server keeps Ashenfall and everything your group has built in it available around the clock for up to six players, updates automatically so client and server versions never drift, and takes one-click backups before disruptive changes.
Conclusion
Ashenfall gives you four ways to travel and they suit different jobs. Mounts — the Terrorbird from The Wild Hunt in Fellhollow and the Magic Carpet from the first section of Icthlarin's Little Helper — are for long overland runs, with the caveat that you earn no Agility XP while riding and that unlocking a skin is not the same as unlocking the mount. Lodestones run on Law Runes and therefore Runecrafting 50, but costs were halved and the carry-weight penalty softened, which makes relocating a base far cheaper than it used to be. Agility shortcuts through Kebbit Burrows are the free option once dug, though they damage you at low levels. And Recall — a runic marker you teleport back to — is the one to set before a risky climb, because it catches a single fatal fall in a game where those otherwise kill you outright.
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