looking for input on where to take my campaign next

[jsun]

So I have been running a campaign where my players are recovering shards of a dead gods persona to try to resurrect him.

In my most recent game they had a choice to either stop a plague or investigate missing miners. In the end, both were plots to attack a temple which was holding one of the shards the players had recovered in a previous game.
They stopped the plague and are returning to town. When they get back they will see that the temple has been attacked from the mines.
Here is where I need help. Should the bad guys have stolen the shard that the players had already recovered? The other option that I am toying with is just having the temple take a large number of casualties. It is a young faith that one of the players is trying to help grow so having a lot of the higher rank clerics die would be a big blow. I want to make the players choices meaningful and the enemies an intelligent threat, but I don't want to have the players accomplishments stripped.
This is the first time I am in the GM seat with a long time gaming group they seem to be enjoying the campaign so far so any advice would be appreciated.

[Theodoor]

You can let the bad guys steel the shard, and let them take it to their headquarter, where they have got another shard.

[Smallfoot]

Which option provides you with the plot hooks you want? You're right that having the bad guys steal the shard will frustrate the players BUT if tracking the enemy will lead to both the stolen shard and a second shard, then it would feel a bit more like things are moving forward. If the PCs catch the enemies quickly, the frustration level would be lessened.

If you go the 'temple casualties' route but don't let the enemy take the shard, ask yourself who the casualties would really be? Unless the bad guys can just ignore the lower-level priests and worshippers, the higher-rank clerics are probably going to be the *last* to die. That might let you modulate just how badly the enemies injure the new faith.

[Theodoor]

maybe a group of clerics went to the mines, found another shard but were forced to let the shard in the mines because they were attacked by the bad guys. only one of those clerics could managee to escape and bring this news to your party.

[Mark Hoover]

The high level clerics are fine, so's the shard. The enemy was successfully repelled. Everyone celebrates.

In their downtime the PCs begin notcing things. The high priest has stopped bathing. He also has been caught several times muttering to himself in the cloister at night. The PCs come to the church and find the high cleric staring blankly at the shard, drooling.

Turns out the attack had nothing to do with murder or stealing the shard. The high priest, for all his wisdom and spells, has somehow been corrupted.

He was forced in the final moments of the attack to make a terrible choice. submit to a spell/power/disease/curse/whatever from the bad guys or suffer the clergy to burn. He yielded and now is in the throes of the corruption, a mere puppet for the enemy. The faith is now a toothless waste and the shard is theirs for the taking at a moments notice. So why haven't they taken it yet?

This is where the PCs have a chance. The enemy is waiting for them to gather all the pieces. They didn't count on the high priest being found out so soon. The party can choose to find a way to cure the pontif or can use the gathering of the shards as a means of drawing their enemies to them.

[jsun]

Thanks guys you gave me a lot of good ideas not sure which way I'm going to take it yet but this helps a lot