Players know that a few areas have Mana Ponds located in them. While you can forage around some of them, most of them only work if you have Empty Flasks on you, and as these are shop-bought, there is little point in carrying one over, say, an Advanced Mana Crystal. So, I would like to propose the following...
For mountainous areas away from town, namely Bluefrost Mountain, parts of Mount Melior, and the ridge area in the Sentant Range, a few random squares have day-spawn examines where you can acquire empty flasks from the corpses of less fortunate adventurers. For flasks that have already been taken, display the normal "You examine the room and find nothing." so no clue is given! Not too frequent, maybe about 20 or 30 on the Sentant Range and a similar number on Bluefrost Mountain. Have fewer on Mount Melior, although have one with the Drow Corpse, why not!
Also, for Orcs, since they appear around the Sentant Range, allow them to have a low chance of dropping Empty Flasks (scavenged from victims or the leftovers of Orcish drafts).
To accommodate for the increase in Empty Flasks, let them be accepted in the Alchemy Shop in Arilin for 5 gold apiece. I'm not sure if Mana Water is accepted there, but if not, I would suggest 75 gold for that (not Unknown Brew #124470 though, as it is technically unknown!). It gives the option of extra gold on a trip, although slightly less than if you were collecting, say, Short Swords.
Edited by Crane, 19 September 2010 - 02:39 PM.