I was wondering. I just started my second character, and I want to get a head start on powerleveling smithing and enchanting, so I was wondering if there was a place to store items before you can buy the house in Whiterun.

I would just like to get a good amount of stuff to smith and then enchant after I go out in the world to do quests.

If you kill a guard in Whiterun the body remains forever (I have a dozen guard corpses stashed under the bridge), so you could use a guard corpse as a safe chest.

Haha, that's funny. Might have to try that

Marry Ysolda, has a house in whiterun u can use, and everyday gives you money.

Hmm, Guard Corpses dont last for me, otherwise Markarth would be covered in bodies.

u can get the house in whiterun fairly early on and for pretty cheap.
become arch mage. u get plenty of storage
marriage is also quick and easy, though u will need an amulet of mara and traveling to (i think its riften) talk to maramel

Strangely enough, items that I've dropped on the ground in the middle of Whiterun don't seem to despawn. Dunno if the game judges certain items differently than others though, the stuff I dropped was some very high value armors so maybe they game was loathe to delete them.

They only remain in Whiterun

No, it just takes alot of time. Don't leave items on the ground anywhere, they will disappear in time.

Things on my game just dont like to stay.

As for the idea of sticking items on dragon corpses, it doesnt work.
even if it did how would you keep track of what pile of bones has your items? id have a good 15 dragon corpses covering Riverwood alone

I dropped the crap items that were inside all the cabinets in Breezehome right outside the door to the house and they're still there every time I pass through.

Yeah eventually all items will despawn if you don't have a safe house just depends how much time you spend away and that area can be reset...

The round structure in the ruins of Labyrinthian has a mask that transports you back in time or something, and has a lot of storage chests. Plus, dedicated storage for you dragon priest masks.

By that point, I'd most likely have a house.

Well, if you're gonna be picky just buy a house then.

i heard if you join the bard academy they give you a room for free and it has a chest in it...

I put a few items in my free room at the mage college to test the containers, and after 32 levels they're still there. Won't say they're 100% safe but it looks that way to me.

I used a chest in Jorrvaskr until I was level 20 or so. You could also do the House of Horrors quest to get the free house in Markarth.

novice quarter, winterhold college of magic
you ll need to be able to cast one spell
they dont expect anything from you
so if you dont care about being a mage, you can still use the free room

LOTS OF STORAGE

and each container in that room seems to have infinite capacity

as a bonus, it seems any decoration you put in place stay

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dont store stuff in bodies, some things resets after over 300 days
the chest in riverwood (in the smith house) reset a bit after day 320
I lost everything I had left there and had to reload to get it back
not much, but there was the dragonborn book I have not seen elsewhere
And some early day trophies

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I m not sure if the house of horror is really safe
did anyone test for over a year (360 days) to be safe ...
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*I put a few items in my free room at the mage college to test the containers, and after 32 levels they're still there. Won't say they're 100% safe but it looks that way to me.*

she tells you its your quarters, that one is really yours. dont worry

the manual say houses you purchase are one way to get safe storage (ownership of containers)
other ways are wedding, mage guild, possibly the unmarked container in jovaskar (there is only one near the bed, in the middle of all the beds)

there may be other ways, maybe becoming a jarl through conquest or something
or maybe in expansions

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*u can get the house in whiterun fairly early on and for pretty cheap.
become arch mage. u get plenty of storage
marriage is also quick and easy, though u will need an amulet of mara and traveling to (i think its riften) talk to maramel*

certainly not at master difficulty with jack of all trade built
you can barely survive on salmon steak for a while...

whiterun house = main quest = dragon will show up
master difficulty = dragons will toast you at early level
err... ice wraiths still freeze me (the one in the magic college midden)

With my new character, I m playing safe, I dont like cheating (reloads)
So far no deaths (except dumb tests that dont count, like sneak attack on ulfric stormclack at level 1, just for fun)

I wish there was a hardcoe mode, with a hall of heroes that remember your fallen heroes,
all the wanabe that preceeded the real guy

I completely forgot about the mage college, and I'll be joining that anyways, just so I can get the Dragon Priest mask and it's necessary for the main quest I believe.

I use Anise's Hut, which is very close to RiverRun and has both an alchemy bench and enchanting table in the basemant. nothing's dissappeared yet and I'm 34th level now, started putting things in there almost immedietly after leaving Helgen the first time.