Player corpses
When a character dies they leave behind a corpse (and all other corpses that they were carrying at the time of death). Casting Raise Dead or Resurrection on a corpse will bring that character back to life. Corpses drop all the gold the dead character had on them at the time of death. Anyone can pick up the gold.
Any time your corpse is picked up, dropped, or destroyed while you are in the Death area you will receive a message notifying you of such.
Portals
Player corpses cannot be taken through portals. If a character uses a portal while carrying a corpse he or she will drop that corpse on the ground instantly before portalling.
Bashing
When a corpse is destroyed through any means it is considered "bashed". Bashing can happen intentionally or unintentionally but the effect is the same. A bashed corpse cannot be raised or resurrected and drops all the gold it contained along with a skull of the dead character on the ground.
Corpse Etiquette
Despite the penalty cost of respawning, it is considered bad form to give OOC raises or to in any way do something your character would obviously not do just to make things easier for the player with the dead character. Likewise, hiding corpses in obscure places or putting them in trash cans is also not good because it is essentially the same as destroying the character's corpse (see Bashing) but without giving them such a message in the Death area. If you wish to prevent a character from being raised simply destroy the corpse.