At some point your character will die. This can be caused by starvation,
thirst, old age, or physcial harm (falling, drowning, or attack). While the
first three are very slow processes, physical harm can be sudden. Most
attacks and accidents gradualy lower your health, until it drops to 0% and
you fall unconscious. Further damage will kill you. However, you can also
die suddenly, of massive trauma, such as decapitation in combat, falling from
an incredible height, or being hit by a very powerful spell or trap.
After reaching level ten, when your character dies, their essence is
transported to the Realm of the Dead. Your corpse is left behind where you
were killed, together with everything that was in your possession at the
fateful moment. Items should not be stolen from your corpse while it is
whole, save for the exception outlined in the PKill helpfile. Any spells
which were affecting your physcal self are canceled by death. While in the
Realm of the Dead, you may send mental requests to the living to plea for
help in being returned to life. See the Returning to Life helpfile for more
details on your options.
Corpses decay to dust after a little less than a day of real time. When a
corpse decays the contents will spill out onto the floor of the room where
the corpse was, and anyone finding them will decide ICly what to do with
them. For more details, see the corpses helpfile.