Unfortunately getting a manastone is basically the druid epic quest of classic, and that's how I regarded it. It's damn near essential. Oom to FM took me 15 minutes.
You have no idea how frustrating it was and how often I cursed the three stooges (
VincentVolaju - the guy who rerolls weekly and
posts a new 'how do i play eq plz' thread,
Guido - Jeremy, and
Barrelrider - some no-name) for constantly buying every reasonably priced manastone and reselling it, and posting on each others threads to inflate the bids. They went from 50k to 70k in two weeks.
Some folks were actually trying to get 85 out of their stones. I still sow them and click mine whenever I see them just to rub it in.
Hang in there. Get your name out there, there are still folks who aren't interested in raping everyone on the server with their
questionably obtained manastones. And if you have to, go into debt with everyone you know just to get out of the rat race as fast as possible.
Disclaimer: This post was comedy at the expense of people who made getting me a manastone harder. If this post resuted in watery eyes, broken knuckles, or a flushed expression, consult a doctor, because there are no angry mastodons.