Maazuni Is Where the Heart Is - multiple session recap

I've been busy or slack, depending on how you look at it.  Here's a quick-ish summary of what's been going on.

The party explored the Yuan-Ti temple, and encountered a couple of rooms with deadly traps.  They completely avoided the traps in one, and endured the damage dealt in the second one.  They found a few treasures along the way.

They ended up at the main chamber, which appeared to be a partially ruined temple from an earlier time.  The Yuan-Ti had torn up a section of the flagstones and dug a deep pit which seemed to absorb light.  Yuan-Ti assassins, archers, and priests attacked.  Whenever a Yuan-Ti fell, a shadow rose up to assault the party again.  The group battled to the bottom of the pit, where they found the corrupted Heart of Linitheriva.  It was pitch black instead of ruby red.  It also absorbed the spirit of the slain Yuan-Ti priestess as she fell into the pit.

Thoric took the Heart, and found it to be beautiful.  So beautiful, in fact, that he found his friends to be unworthy of it's presence.  He immediately set out to leave the Yuan-Ti and return to Linitheriva's sanctuary in Maazuni.  The rest of the party had to catch up to him.  Once outside, they teleported back to the city.

Upon arrival, Thoric continued to try to shed his companions, but they followed him to the temple.  The high priestess of Linitheriva took stock of the situation and allowed Thoric to follow her to the inner sanctum.  There he tried to convince her to keep all others from ever seeing the Heart, as it was too beautiful and precious for others.  She pretended to agree with him, and then knocked him unconscious when his back was turned.

In the morning, a ritual was held, and Thoric was in attendance.  The darkness was purged from the Heart, and a black spirit shot into the sky, leaving the gem as it was supposed to be - a large, beautiful ruby.  The shadow over Thoric's mind fled as well.  When the rite of consecration was complete, there was a bright light.  When it faded, the statue of the avatar of Linitheriva once again stood whole.  Thoric was granted a boon by his goddess, and he asked that Kendrini be restored to her lover, Orvalion.  Shortly thereafter, a hooded figure entered the inner sanctum.  It was Kendrini, wearing robes of the temple.  She and Orvalion had a heartwarming reunion, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Except not really.

Vrisana convinced the party to help her defeat Caelebhan, and the first step of her plan involved letting the entire city know who they were, and that they were in Maazuni.  The high priestess agreed to accompany the party to the Captain of the Guard, where they explained their part in the restoration of the Heart, and gave directions for the Yuan-Ti settlement.  The Captain rewarded them for their help, and set about putting together an expeditionary force.

The party set up camp at a fairly nice inn that had once been a fort, and started partying openly.  their plan was to let any spies know of their whereabouts, and lure Caelebhan into attacking them in public.

Two weeks passed uneventfully (except for the weekly orgies at the temple of Linitheriva), until the party noticed a man dressed in desert garb at the bar.  He seemed out of place, but did not stir up trouble.  He appeared to be watching.

A few days after that, in the early evening, the party heard a contingent of troops jog up and surround the inn.  Colvin Swordbreaker, one of the magisters of Maazuni strode in.  He said that if the party had any honor, they would hand over to him the dragonstone in their possession.  When asked why he thought the party had the stone, he said that Caelebhan had informed him of their actions, including their theft of Caelebhan's property.

The party (mostly Thoric) explained to him how they had destroyed the dragonstone.  He seemed to accept that fact, but was not interested in Thoric's assertions that merely seeking the dragonstone made Caelebhan an evil person.  Colvin said that the matter of the theft was still something to be dealt with, and suggested that the party talk it out with Caelebhan using Colvin as a mediator.  The party agreed, and Colvin asked them to swear on their honor not to leave the inn until the meeting.  He left them on their own recognizance.

In discussion with the party, Thoric offered to sacrifice himself, and claim that he was the only one responsible for the theft.  His idea was to spare his comrades from punishment.  Vrisana said that death was not usually a sentence handed out for mere theft, but that servitude of imprisonment might be.

Later that evening, the party noticed the man in the desert robes again, sitting at the bar.  Shortly thereafter, a dwarf with a greatsword and a human with a mace walked in and pushed their way through the crowd to the party's table.  The dwarf asked for Xakoraki, and when she asked who wanted to know, he attacked her.  The man in robes jumped into the fight barehanded, and proved to be a well-trained monk.  The dwarf was a competent fighter, and the human was a warrior cleric of the twin gods Lugos and Bomar.  Another woman stood up from a table acroos the room and attacked with sorcery.

It was a decent fight, but in the end three of the attackers were unconscious, and the monk was killed.  Before she fell, the sorceress called out in dismay, "where's our backup?".  The party was left wondering whether they would soon be facing another set of attackers.