Vial

A Vial is a glass container that players generally use in Herblore to make and store potions. They can fill a Vial of water by using it on a water source (all the vials in their inventory will fill automatically), except a well. if a player attempts to fill a vial from a well, they will receive the game message: "If I drop my vial down there, I don't think I'm likely to get it back.". Players can also use the lunar spell Humidify to fill vials with water.

Alternatively, they can use half a coconut on it to fill the vial with coconut milk. They can then add a herb and a secondary ingredient to make a potion, depending on their Herblore level.

When trying to use a empty vial on the red mist from killing Armoured zombies it will say: "I don't seem to be able to collect the mist with this."

In real life a vial would be cylindrical, whereas in RuneScape it has a wide bottom and tapered top. This makes it more like an Erlenmeyer flask.

Members
Two vials spawn in Frincos's Fabulous Herb Store in south-west Entrana. A vial is also obtained through the Swept Away quest.

Non-members
Even though vials are mostly used in Herblore (a members-only skill), they are not a members-only item. The apothecary can make a strength potion to any player who supplies him with a limpwurt root and red spiders' eggs, and pays him 5 coins. The player can empty this vial or drink all the doses of the potion to obtain an empty vial. However, the potion itself is worth more than the empty vial.

Before it was removed, players could obtain a good number of vials simply by waiting outside Bounty Hunter, as player-killers used potions and then dropped the vials because they could not be taken into the craters.

Vials are also an incredibly common low value drop in PVP worlds and many can be collected in a short period of time.

Obtaining vials as drops from monsters
Some non-player characters, such as Chaos Druids, will drop vials when killed. Water Elementals always drop a vial of water, and are close to the bank. They are level 34, and players must have at least started Elemental Workshop I.

From NPCs
Members can buy vials in a Herblore shop (for example from Jatix in Taverley), or buy plant cures from gardeners and then empty the vial. Players can also buy them from the general stores in the following places:
 * Keldagrim - at Gunslik's Assorted Items. This is quite close to a bank without the need for any teleports
 * Shilo Village - at Obli's General Store. This is also close to a bank, with no teleports required
 * Mort'ton - at Rasmire's General Store. Players need to have completed Shades of Mort'ton and In Aid of the Myreque

Other places to buy vials from NPCs include:
 * Aemad's Adventuring Supplies in East Ardougne
 * Frincos's Fabulous Herb Store on Entrana
 * Sigmund the Merchant in Rellekka - he sells empty and water-filled vials, and players can bank on Lunar Isle via a teleport (or, if the player is wearing Fremennik Sea Boots they can bank faster with Peer the Seer making this the fastest method of merching water-filled vials because you can buy them for 10 coins and sell them for coins.

They are most easily obtained in quantity (from NPCs) by purchasing vial packs, each of which can be "opened" to obtain fifty vials.

From other players
After the Shop Improvement update in October 2007, the street prices of empty and water-filled vials dropped in price substantially, because shops began stocking them in infinite quantities. This in turn caused drops in the prices of several potions, due to the ease of obtaining vials.

The Grand Exchange (GE) was introduced the following month, and players can use this to trade vials freely with other players - the current price is coins each. Even though the street price has dropped, players can buy vials from NPCs and sell them on the GE for a profit, if they are willing to spend the time to do so.

The 2 September 2009 Personalised Shops update removed infinite quantities and replaced them with shops unique to each player account, so that one player's purchases or sales did not affect what was available to another player. Store quantities were reduced to 300, with a respawn rate of approximately 12.5 vials per hour. Prices of vials rose dramatically. Packs of vials were added to many stores with the 9 November 2009 Champions' Challenge update, and empty vial prices fell once again.

Making vials
Using the Crafting skill, members can make their own vials. This requires a glassblowing pipe, and molten glass. 33 Crafting is required to make the vial.

Vials appear to have a cork inserted into the top. However, nowhere during the process of making a vial do players come into contact with cork.

Since the introduction of vial sets, the price of vials dropped from 181 gp to 10 gp because vials are now easier to buy, this made it harder for people casting the lunar spell humidify to make money via magic.