Spell effect at casting time or when resolved?

[Dr. Frank Funkelstein]

I am thinking about the interaction between Expansive Spellstrike and Cry of Destruction.

Cry of Destruction wrote:

Your voice booms, smashing what's in front of you. Each creature and unattended object in the area takes 1d8 sonic damage. If you already dealt damage to an enemy this turn with a Strike or spell, increase the damage dice from this spell to d12s.

You cast the spell and "imbue it into an attack" as part of spellstrike.

It gets resolved after the attack, and the damage is not combined but triggers resistance and/or weakness separately.

Would the damage from the strike (if it hits) trigger the condition for the spell and increase its damage dice from d8 to d12?

[yellowpete]

I would say that the conditional choice of die size is part of the effect of the spell (Reading Spells: "A horizontal line follows saving throws and duration, and the effects of the spell are described after this line."), and is thus delayed until after the Strike deals damage as per Spellstrike rules. So, d12s.

[Castilliano]

That's an interesting question. Unsure there's a Golarioan metaphysical answer (or that it would matter), but mechanically the Strike damage occurs earlier than the spell even if the spell was pre-loaded, so d12s.

[TheFinish]

Yep, definitely d12s. By the time the spell deals damage, the creature has already taken damage from a Strike or Spell, so it gets upgraded.