Help! All my possessions have disappeared!

[sunnyD]

I had several descendant sigil stones (I'm not sure if I'll need those for future quests) as well as three grand soul gems that took me a LONG time to get! That's not to mention all my weapons, armour....oh jeez

What I did was leave them in trunks in the west wing of the cloud ruler temple, as now I am one of them I thought it was cool for me to leave all my stuff there. Not a good idea. Where has it GONE? Can I buy it or steal it back? Or has it just disappeared from the game?

[Norroen Dyrd]

I am afraid it looks like you lost your stuff for good. The containers must have been respawning, meaning that after a certain period of time - three in-game days, I believe - all their content resets to what it has been before you took something out or put it in. There are many such chests and cupboards in Oblivion, so it's best to buy yourself a house and keep stuff there for safety

This is what the Wiki writes about containers that are safe to put stuff in:

Spoiler:

Safe Containers

Few containers in Cyrodiil are safe containers and do not reset. Items placed in a safe container will remain there, even if you do not visit that zone for a long period of time. Additionally, NPC characters will not remove items from safe containers, with two exceptions:

* Mazoga the Orc will eat food out of the containers in the White Stallion Lodge.
* There is an enchanted chest in the Arch-Mage's Quarters of the Arcane University. Once you put a compatible ingredient in, after one day 10 more of those ingredients will be added. Remember that although this chest multiplies ingredients, it is not a safe container. After one week everything in it will disappear.

There are a few types of containers that are safe, no matter where you find them:

* Clams-- There are 321 clams in the game, found underwater in various bodies of water. Seven can be found just outside the entrance to the Imperial Prison Sewer, when you first finish the Tutorial.
* Torn Sacks of Grain-- Labeled "A Torn Sack of Grain", there are 91 that exist in the game.
* Open-topped Grain Sacks-- There are 520 such containers, all labeled "Sack". When you first find them they will either contain 5 identical samples of a grain (Corn, Flour, Rice, or Wheat Grain) or be empty. A large number of other sacks are also safe containers, but cannot be safely identified visually.

Two quests will result in a previously-safe container being removed, leading to the loss of everything inside it. A Plot Revealed: an open-topped Grain Sack in Bruma Mages Guild. Goblin Trouble: an open-topped Grain Sack in Crestbridge Camp.

You can check for safe containers by doing the following:

* Save your game (optional).
* Empty out all the containers you want to check or add a specific disposable item like an ingredient to each container.
* Wait for 73 hours (3 days plus one hour).
* Re-check the containers. Those that are empty or still contain your disposable item are most likely safe.
* For added certainty, repeat the previous two steps several times.
* Re-load your saved game (optional).

On the PC you can also check if any given container is safe by opening the Construction Set and searching for containers with their Respawn flag unchecked.

[edit] Houses

All houses that you officially acquire have safe containers, with the exception of the house in Anvil. Since you can enter the house before you complete the related quest in which you acquire ownership of the house, Where Spirits Have Lease, some of the containers found inside are not initially safe. Containers that have been identified as unsafe are the overturned drawers near the entrance and the cupboard in the southwest corner of the dining room. These containers disappear when Velwyn cleans up the house at the end of the quest. Take caution, as there may be other containers that disappear or reset. The cupboard in the north west corner of the sitting area is safe.

[H8Ball]

The best way to test is to save, put a worthless item in the container, leave the cell and Wait 73 hours. If it's still there, the container is safe and you can reload, then put valued items in it.

The reason for 73 hours is that the countdown to a cell reset is 72 hours (3 days) after you leave, but it counts down ON the hour, so won't BEGIN counting down until the NEXT whole hour. This means the actual countdown can vary from minimum 72 hours (3 days) to maximum 72 hours 59 minutes. The safe bet is to ALWAYS assume the maximum and Wait for 73 hours to be SURE that the cell reset WILL occur. If you re-enter the cell before the countdown expires, it will reset BACK to 72 hours when you leave. This is why some dungeons never seem to reset.

Bought houses are the ONLY guaranteed safe storage areas so buy a house as soon as you can, even if it's just the shabby Imperial City Waterfront Shack for 2000 Gold. It only has one container (a chest of drawers), but container capacity is unlimited (although too much will slow things down). You can at least store your gear safely until you can afford a better house. Benirus Manor in Anvil is the best deal at 5000 Gold. It has the highest safe container count in the game, so you can organise items by type however you like. You just have to, er, "exorcise" a few ghosts first.

Tip: Before buying a house, you CAN use unsafe containers providing you follow two simple rules. 1. Pick ONE convenient place, so you always know where your stuff is. 2. Never let more than 3 days go by without a visit. I used to use the basement of Skingrad Mages Guild, and visited it daily without fail. There's no need to rummage. Just briefly entering the cell and exiting again is enough to reset the respawn timer.

Star Tip: Use Alchemy to create potions AS labels! You can give a potion ANY name you like, so the name can be a label, a note, whatever you dream up. Stand potions on containers so you know what's in 'em by just hovering the crosshair over the potion and "reading the label". Restore Fatigue is the best effect because ALL food ingredients have it has first effect, so even Novice Alchemists can create label potions. The beauty of this technique is that it exploits existing vanilla game mechanics, NO mod required. So it works equally well on PC, Xbox360 and PS2!

[Evil-i]

Sorry to hear of your woes, you've gained some Oblivion savvy at a price.

For cheap, easy (and safe) storage solutions without having to buy and improve a house, there are two very basic options. Firstly, you can use the Hollowed-Out Stump in the Imperial City's Market District. Look for it in the gardenish area behind Stonewall Shields. Otherwise, you can do the Zero Visibility quest in Aleswell. One of the bonuses for completing the quest is that the inn-keeper grants you a free room which is yours to use forever, and the chest of drawers in there is a safe container. (However, it's been reported that NPCs will remove stolen items from the chest.)

Although I haven't tried them myself, I've read that Clams can be used for safe storage as well.

[mxk101]

Although I haven't tried them myself, I've read that Clams can be used for safe storage as well.

You are correct; None of the three different types of clams have the respawn flag ticked.

[Ryka]

So you guys are telling me that Joffre's chest is not safe?
Cause I have been using that ever since getting burned with regular chests way back when i first started.
I would not be surprised if this chest is reset due to some trigger in the main quest, but I have avoided the MQ since those foolish monks let me "borrow" a horse.

[Logius]

Jauffrey's chest is safe for storage, it won't respawn. Another safe place closer to the Imperial City can be found by going behind Wawnet Inn and looking for a small dock near the water. There'll be a chest there that also never respawns. It's usually what I use when just starting out in the game and I don't have enough money to afford a house yet.

But, as a rule, you should NEVER assume a chest is safe for storage without checking the wiki first.