Ratcatcher in Dragonwilds: Four Rats, Two Roasts, and Your First Axe
Ratcatcher is the first proper quest in Dragonwilds after the opening tutorial, and it exists to teach one loop: kill something, build a fire, cook what you killed. It takes a few minutes, requires nothing you do not already have, and pays out a stone logging axe and a stone dagger — the two tools that unlock everything after it.
Quest Details
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Primary |
| Start | Speak to Vannaka, south of the Windmill |
| Requires | Getting Started |
| Items needed | 4 raw rat meat, 6 ash logs, 4 stones |
| Rewards | 1 stone logging axe, 1 stone dagger |
Vannaka is directly north-east of Doric and south of the windmill, which is the same small area the tutorial leaves you in. There is no travel involved.
The Walkthrough
1. Talk to Vannaka. He explains that you need food to keep fighting, and sends you after rat meat.
2. Go north to the windmill and kill 4 giant rats. Each drops raw rat meat, and you need four.
3. Gather 4 ash logs and 4 stones and build a campfire. Bring extra logs on top of that — the campfire needs fuel to keep burning while you cook, which is why the quest's item list says 6 ash logs rather than four.
4. Cook the meat. This is the number worth knowing: 4 raw rat meat produces 2 rat roasts. The conversion is two to one, not one to one, so gathering exactly four rats is gathering exactly enough — there is no margin for a burnt one.
5. Bring the rat roasts back to Vannaka. He sends you on to Zanik to learn about magic, which starts Rune Mysteries.
The Two-to-One Cooking Ratio
Four raw rat meat becomes two rat roasts, and that ratio catches people who assume cooking is a one-for-one conversion. If you kill four rats and burn one batch, you are going back to the windmill.
Two practical consequences:
- Kill more than four rats if you see them. Rat meat is not scarce and the spare covers a mistake.
- Fuel the fire properly before you start. A campfire that goes out mid-cook is the usual cause of a failed batch, and it is why the quest asks for six logs rather than the four the fire costs to build.
What the Rewards Unlock
The stone logging axe and stone dagger are not impressive items, and that is not the point. They are the entry to two skill trees:
- The logging axe starts Woodcutting, which gates an enormous amount of later content — including the 20 Woodcutting requirement that appears in Restless Ghosts and Goblin Diplomacy for cutting thorny vines.
- The stone dagger is your first crafted weapon, and Attack levels come from using one.
Do not skip this quest to save time. It is the fastest route to both tools, and buying or crafting them separately costs more than the ten minutes the quest takes.
Where It Sits in the Chain
Ratcatcher is the second link in the primary chain:
| Quest | Leads to |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | Ratcatcher |
| Ratcatcher | Rune Mysteries |
| Rune Mysteries | Warding Off Danger |
Because it is a primary quest, it gates the rest of the chain — Rune Mysteries lists Ratcatcher as its requirement, and Rune Mysteries in turn gates Goblin Diplomacy. A player who skips Ratcatcher has locked themselves out of the magic introduction and everything downstream of it.
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Conclusion
Ratcatcher is Dragonwilds' second primary quest, started by speaking to Vannaka south of the Windmill and requiring only Getting Started. It asks for 4 raw rat meat, 6 ash logs and 4 stones: kill four giant rats by the windmill, build a campfire with four of the logs, keep the rest as fuel, and cook. The number to remember is that four raw rat meat produces two rat roasts — a two-to-one conversion with no margin, so kill spares. Returning the roasts to Vannaka completes it and pays out a stone logging axe and a stone dagger, which between them open Woodcutting and your first melee weapon. It also sends you to Zanik to start Rune Mysteries, which is why skipping it locks the primary chain: Rune Mysteries requires Ratcatcher, and Goblin Diplomacy requires Rune Mysteries.
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