Secondly, I really don't think anyone is a position to comment on what or what not my players like. Frankly, I have never grasped the concept of "player agency", which many seem to imply I am ruining here. I have played with DM's that try to run a sandbox, and players dictate where they do, what will happen. I have found those games founder. If the DM is not prepared, now he is struggling in a session to react to what the players do, scrambling though sources to come up with encounters on the fly. That leads to downtime in-game, and gametime is a precious thing.
Lastly, anyone suggesting (it was clearly not you), who suggests that level 7 players can kill off a Demi-Lich, in its lair, just don't know the game that well, or at least the power of a Demi-Lich. My group has come across several entities that were way way above their paygrade, and the group was smart enough to NOT fight those entities. The only players I have killed was a near TPK, when one player (no longer with the group, to much rejoicing from all the remaining players), worked out a plan to split the party 3 ways, and engage in battle.
You're right - defeating or even defying a demi-lich isn't really a survival option at level 7. However, be prepared for your grave cleric to do so if you have actually given them enough information to make an informed decision. Look at it from a player perspective - if your player is into role playing the grave cleric and their hatred of undead then if they know that their god is angry about the situation and when they realize that the creature who is to receive the bag is a demilich they may refuse to do it. However, a party member is also likely to not want to punish someone else in the party for their role playing (that is being forced by the DM due to the dreams from their god).
So depending on the player, how much of a friend they might be and various other factors - they may figure that for some reason the DM wants the character dead so when the bag is handed over it - they take it and tell everyone else to flee while the cleric frees the soul confined to the bag. Their god is happy and all they lost is a cleric.
Depending on the player they may feel betrayed or pissed off or might just go with it. I only give it about a 50% chance of them following your script and if they do it will likely be because they know it is a scripted railroad they should follow and not because the characters made relevant decisions. However, how the party reacts will likely depend on how often this sort of things happen in the campaign and whether they are good friends and will just go along with it to humor the DM.
Finally, you keep going back to the idea that "everyone agreed to the fedex quest". Did the god give the cleric any bad feelings about the bag? Did you offer up any observations or insight other than a "little old halfling" who wanted a bag taken to a "prisoner" held in the castle? Did you give any hints about it being suspicious? Keep in mind that it is VERY rare for players to fore go ANY quest offered up by the DM since they don't want to screw up your plot. Most players accept quests just because they are curious and want to see what will happen unless the DM foreshadows that taking the quest might not be such a good idea. However, in that case, why did the DM put it in the game in the first place if they were going to hint to the players not to take it? This is especially true for what seems to be a major plot line quest disguised as a little side quest. The DM doesn't WANT them to turn it down. However, in this case, without any additional information AND the DM presenting the quest there is no reason to "blame" the cleric for accepting it. The god didn't warn them beforehand - why is he pissed now? If anyone is to blame for the current situation it is the god not the cleric (unless the cleric was warned and the player chose to go ahead anyway - my impression is that this didn't happen).
Anyway - best of luck with your game.
P.S. As for sandboxes ... I am guessing you haven't actually played with many really good DMs. A sandbox game flows just as well as any other. The biggest challenge is the DM keeping notes on exactly what the players know and what they don't so that the world can be adapted to the player actions seamlessly from a player perspective. A homebrew sandbox is full of NPCs, plot lines, set pieces, towns, villages but unless the player's have been specifically told the geometry - exactly where these things are is flexible so a DM floundering for random encounters is just another sign of inexperience. However, running a good sandbox is more challenging and more work than just running a module so it isn't surprising that finding someone who runs one well is challenging.
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You're right - defeating or even defying a demi-lich isn't really a survival option at level 7. However, be prepared for your grave cleric to do so if you have actually given them enough information to make an informed decision. Look at it from a player perspective - if your player is into role playing the grave cleric and their hatred of undead then if they know that their god is angry about the situation and when they realize that the creature who is to receive the bag is a demilich they may refuse to do it. However, a party member is also likely to not want to punish someone else in the party for their role playing (that is being forced by the DM due to the dreams from their god).
So depending on the player, how much of a friend they might be and various other factors - they may figure that for some reason the DM wants the character dead so when the bag is handed over it - they take it and tell everyone else to flee while the cleric frees the soul confined to the bag. Their god is happy and all they lost is a cleric.
Depending on the player they may feel betrayed or pissed off or might just go with it. I only give it about a 50% chance of them following your script and if they do it will likely be because they know it is a scripted railroad they should follow and not because the characters made relevant decisions. However, how the party reacts will likely depend on how often this sort of things happen in the campaign and whether they are good friends and will just go along with it to humor the DM.
Finally, you keep going back to the idea that "everyone agreed to the fedex quest". Did the god give the cleric any bad feelings about the bag? Did you offer up any observations or insight other than a "little old halfling" who wanted a bag taken to a "prisoner" held in the castle? Did you give any hints about it being suspicious? Keep in mind that it is VERY rare for players to fore go ANY quest offered up by the DM since they don't want to screw up your plot. Most players accept quests just because they are curious and want to see what will happen unless the DM foreshadows that taking the quest might not be such a good idea. However, in that case, why did the DM put it in the game in the first place if they were going to hint to the players not to take it? This is especially true for what seems to be a major plot line quest disguised as a little side quest. The DM doesn't WANT them to turn it down. However, in this case, without any additional information AND the DM presenting the quest there is no reason to "blame" the cleric for accepting it. The god didn't warn them beforehand - why is he pissed now? If anyone is to blame for the current situation it is the god not the cleric (unless the cleric was warned and the player chose to go ahead anyway - my impression is that this didn't happen).
Anyway - best of luck with your game.
P.S. As for sandboxes ... I am guessing you haven't actually played with many really good DMs. A sandbox game flows just as well as any other. The biggest challenge is the DM keeping notes on exactly what the players know and what they don't so that the world can be adapted to the player actions seamlessly from a player perspective. A homebrew sandbox is full of NPCs, plot lines, set pieces, towns, villages but unless the player's have been specifically told the geometry - exactly where these things are is flexible so a DM floundering for random encounters is just another sign of inexperience. However, running a good sandbox is more challenging and more work than just running a module so it isn't surprising that finding someone who runs one well is challenging.