if you perminately die at the end of your life span then your loved ones or the county you are living in would have to bury you and give the items to the heir, unless you were murdered for the items you posses in which case there would only be your corpse to bury. the NPC characters would take care of it or if you didn't have any heirs or hings like that the items would be given to the government and more than likely auctioned off
i wonder what would if you die in the woods alone of old age not mortal wounds, would your items just be up for grabs or does your family automatically retrieve your items.
I would assume they would go to your body because of your death, they have the ability to know when it happens. So then they would grab the items and head back to your home. The bigger problem is when you don't have any family, then your items rust and decay, but if you get to them before they are completely gone you can grab them. They may not rust and decay at all, depending on the item.
It seems likely to me that you would be able to find the belongings of previous adventurers in dangerous locations. For example, a dragon's lair could be littered with skeletons and possession of those who tried before you, which adds flavor in a much better way than just adding them as props would do. Every single one of them did belong to a player at some point.
