Volo’s Guide to Monsters was published in November of 2016, two and a half years after Lost Mine of Phandelver – and there’s some good stuff in Volo’s about the Goblinoid worship of Maglubiyet that came after the publication of El Mop:

“Maglubiyet’s holy symbol is a headsman’s axe, and the block is where it is blessed by feeding it the lifeblood of conquered foes and goblinoids that neglect their duties. In a temporary camp, the block might be a simple slab of wood or stone laid on a hastily heaped-up pile of dirt. In a permanent garrison, the block is often attached to the command center and placed on a consecrated platform.

Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Lost Mine of Phandelver has a goblin shrine in Cragmaw Castle. The box text describes it as such:

This chamber occupies the northern tower of the castle. A stone altar stands in the middle of the room, covered with bloodstained black cloth. Golden ritual implements – a chalice, a knife, and a censer – are carefully arranged on top of the altar. Two archways to the south are covered with heavy curtains.”

Lost Mine of Phandelver

An altar (a consecrated platform) covered in a black, bloodstained cloth, giving the impression that something was sacrificed upon it. It’s easy to connect the dots and have the altar serve as a chopping block for ritualistic blood sacrifices performed by the Cragmaw goblin tribe.

It’s been my experience that, at Session 0, players often have their own character designs in mind, choosing to decline the premade characters from the original box set when offered. But the backstory of the elven wizard premade character is specifically tied to the altar in Cragmaw Castle.

“You have spent your life dedicated to Oghma, all-seeing god of knowledge, and spent years learning the lore of the multiverse. Through visions delivered in your trances, your god has called you to a new mission. A goblin tribe has made its lair in an ancient ruin now called Cragmaw Castle, where they have defiled a shrine once sacred to Oghma. Now dedicated to the vile goblin god Maglubiyet, the altar is an offense to Oghma that must not stand. You’re sure Oghma has greater things in store for you if you can complete this quest.”

This fun little plot element provides more weight for a story-driven player to delight in. It’s also a way to indirectly bring the Faerûn pantheon into your game without shoehorning it in there, AND…does anyone under the age of 50 even know what a shoehorn is? 🫠

Anyhoo, there’s more information from Volo’s Guide to Monsters that helps a DM flavor the Cragmaw Castle Goblin Shrine more authentically:

Near the block stands a post or a rack with various weapons that represent the symbols of the goblinoid gods, each placed in accordance with the god’s rank. Maglubiyet’s headsman’s axe is always highest. Then comes Nomog-Geaya’s sword and handaxe, Bargrivyek’s white-tipped flail, and at the bottom, often touching the ground, the red-and-yellow whip of Khurgorbaeyag. Notably absent from this grouping are the symbols of the bugbear gods. Instead, severed heads hang in bunches around the block or are impaled upon spikes, their eyelids removed and mouths open. These honor the bugbears’ deities, Hruggek and Grankhul, and their separate but subordinate positions in Maglubiyet’s rule.”

I love this level of detail so much that it makes me want to rewrite the box text and offer an Intelligence (Religion) check to reward players proficient in that skill for their choices at character creation.

Here’s how I’d reflavor the box text for Cragmaw Castle Area 9. Goblin Shrine:

This chamber occupies the northern tower of the castle. A stone altar stands in the middle of the room, covered with bloodstained black cloth. Behind the altar, situated on the north wall between the tower’s arrow slits is a rack which displays well-crafted ritualistic weapons from top to bottom: a headsman’s axe, a longsword, a handaxe, a white-tipped flail, and a red and yellow whip (uncoiled with its tail reaching to the floor) – each hung with care. Several severed heads of humans, elves, and goblins are arranged around the base of the altar, eyes removed from each, with the mouths propped open to hold a burning candles like gruesome jack-o-lanterns. Two archways to the south are covered with heavy curtains.

A successful DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) check is sufficient to reveal that this room is dedicated to the worship of Maglubiyet, with the character understanding the significance of the headsman’s axe at the top of the weapons displayed.

If the result of the check succeeds by 5 or more, the character has an understanding of the ritualistic weapons and severed heads as the symbols of the other goblinoid gods, and how the status of each god’s holy symbol is displayed by their presentation beneath Maglubiyet’s headsman’s axe.

What am I forgetting? Oh yeah, the loot!

Treasure
The weapons on display are of exceptional craftsmanship. The headsman’s axe, longsword, handaxe, and flail are worth 110 gp, 115 gp, 105 gp and 105 gp, respectively (basically, just adding 100 gp to the value of each item as they are listed in the equipment section of the D&D Beyond Basic Rules).

Since they’re ritualistic items, perhaps Maglubiyet and the other goblinoid gods take notice if the characters claim these finely-crafted weapons for themselves? That might be a fun way to introduce characters to bugbear assassins.

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