How can you recover a character whose soul has been trapped?

[Quartz]

This is inspired by various Story Hours.

Suppose you have a character or monster whose soul has been trapped with Trap the Soul. You do not have the gem. A Wish should tell you who has the gem or where it is, but suppose you don't want to directly confront the possessor?

Brucie Bonus question: I've never liked the way the spell component is defined as simply (heh!) being a matter of cost; got any good alternatives?

 

[Infiniti2000]

It's possible (or probable) that some DMs may allow wish/miracle to just end the spell. I wouldn't, however. Outside of wish/miracle, therefore, I can't see a way past destroying/neutralizing the gem. The spell is permanent and therefore one need only dispel the gem, methinks, so breaking it isn't even required (and who wants to break such a very expensive gem?). Unless you can somehow get the gem away from the possessor, then I don't see a way around the confrontation.

An easy solution to the price is just to use a set price, albeit high enough for your game. I would use true resurrection as a guideline, something less than that but close. Say, 15,000 gp? Of course, using a set price nullifies the research component of trap the soul, increasing the spell's effectiveness, so be wary of the change. Also, some people may enjoy such an endeavor, so perhaps change it from HD-oriented to something else that requires research (like blood line, ancestry, or the like).