quill of scribing pre-post humously

[calighis]

Ok so during a particularly brutal combat with some demons our Paladin cast revenance on the party cleric who had just gotten killed. The Cleric was only concerned with getting out his quill of scribing in time for him to get true resurrection scrolled down.
I argue that he cannot pay the xp costs while he is dead.
He argues that he can do so upfront.
What happens here?

 

[Blackrat]

Why not? By RAW nothing states that dead creatures can't get/lose xp. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#dead

 

[Hypersmurf]

He argues that he can do so upfront.

Not only can; in fact, he must.

The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well-lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires one day per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price, with a minimum of at least one day. Potions are an exception to this rule; they always take just one day to brew. The character must spend the gold and XP at the beginning of the construction process.

-Hyp.