I wonder if maybe the solution is along the lines of the old saw "you can't take it with you".
To wit - if you are a very low level character (killing rats, etc) and die, you go to the death realm and have to walk out... but higher level characters will lose things when they go to the DR. For instance, you might lose a piece of armor or a weapon, on the trip back to Yliakum.
The quests and other proposed DR features could be part of this - if you want to secure yourself from this effect, you have to do some kind of D.R. quest that earns you a 'pass' on paying this 'death tax'.
For instance, you could confiscate 1/2 of a players trias, turn all their food rotten, and take (or damage) a random piece of EQ; to avoid this they do a quest that allows them to use a less destructive portal (I would still turn half their food rotten, for 'atmosphere').
Then, dieing in the death realm would be an easy extension of this - it would still cost you the 'death tax' but not return you to Yliakum. Alternately -- there could be multiple levels - dieing in level 1 takes you to level 2, which is 'deeper'... doing a quest there takes you up one level each time.
Kevin
