[Balanor]

I'm not sure if this is very clear, or if everyone knows it, but when a questgiver tells you to retrieve an item from a certain location you do not necessairly need to go to that location. You will always have an increased chance to find the item in any container in any adventure area - you just have a better chance (almost double if I recall correctly) of finding it in a container in the target area. Of course that's not a guarantee you'll find it anywhere -as it sounds like you've experienced- which I know can be somewhat frustrating and is another item on the ever-growing priority list of things to change or tweak.

And to be specific, your chance to find a quest item currently is raised by 5% per additional person in your party.