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Sir Roguesworth of Ooemdee, a level 10 Rogue, happens upon a scroll of Animate Dead after busting up some necromancer clerics. They were pretty crap necromancers, so the scroll is of the minimum CL (5), but Roguesworth could use a new butler, so he goes ahead and makes the DC 25 UMD check and raises up to 10 HD of undead, with a theoretical cap of 20 HD. So far, so good.
Now Roguesworth digs up another scroll, same as the first. He's been trying to get into Casty the Sorceress' pants for a while, and gifts her the scroll as a token of affection. Casty's level 10 as well, and thus can already cast animate dead on her own steam; she's got a closet full of 40 HD of skeletons. But she figures, hey, why waste a spell slot, and goes ahead and uses the scroll. What happens? Given that Roguesworth can raise and control undead with no caster level, it would seem weird if Casty couldn't, but how do the spell and scroll limitations interact? Can she control 40 HD on her own steam, and another 20 HD through the scroll, or does her personal cap cut the scroll off and force her to let skellies out of the closet?
Continuing on, Roguesworth digs up a third scroll (these necromancers were hoarders, too). This one is slightly better, CL 6 instead of 5, and was made by a wizard necromancer instead of a cleric. Roguesworth shrugs and attempts to raise additional skeletons. Now, the new casting can raise up to 12 HD of undead at once, and with the new scroll's CL, Roguesworth would have a cap of 24 HD. But at the time he raised the first batch of undead, he had an effective CL of 5. Do the two totals merge (24 HD overall) or stack (24 + 20 = 44)? Does the scrolls being of different types have any effect on their interaction, as with Mystic Theurges getting separate caps from divine and arcane castings of the spell?