dageir wrote:If the basket is gone, it degraded.
Could have been stolen along with the other items, could have been intentionally destroyed, too.
Don't log off an leave things lying around. You can place two liftable objects into a lean-to. (Pick up item, right click the lean-to.) To get them back out, right click either of the bags in the lean-to. If the lean-to is your homestead, it then requires the potential criminal to have the black skill "Larceny."
And no, you can't steal from a player if they're offline (or even while they're still conscious).