K… I died in the claw viper temple and am surrounded by 20 of those snakes… how can I retrieve my stuff? I tried 50 times… no chance… will I have my stuff back after relogging?
The game can manage only 16 corpses from your char.
If you die ones more the first corpse will poof and your items drops on the ground.
if you leave the game and relog, the corpse with highest gold value will respawn in town.
Ah k… good to know… for the next time then though 
I am way beyond those 16 corpses I fear… Thanks