Deepwinter (family)

The Deepwinter family was a noble family in Waterdeep whose line ended during the Guildwars circa the. At the time, the Deepwinters controlled the Guild of Silversmiths and Gilders.

Base of Operations
The Deepwater estate was located on the corner of Staghunter's Way and Diamond Street in the Sea Ward, just across Heroes' Walk from Heroes' Garden. Much of it was destroyed in a maliciously set fire in 1260 DR.

Possessions
A gold bracelet, known as Tamaera's bracelet, and two gold rings that were reportedly marked with the crest of the Deepwater clan were recovered by Wotav the Curious some years after the family went extinct. The bracelet acted like a periapt of proof against poison and all three pieces were of such high quality that he sold them and bought a building on Sashtar Street with the proceedes.

The Deepwinters had their own burial vault in the City of the Dead. It was built in the, during the peak of the family's wealth and power. Unfortunately, the surveyor that helped select the site was under the domination of Artor Morlin, the vampire lord of Waterdeep, and he chose it to cover and protect the entrace to Morlin's domain at the time, the Dungeon of the Crypt.

History
The Deepwinter family was most famous for their control of the Guild of Silversmiths and Gilders up until the time of the Guildwars in the mid–13 century DR. Various records conflict on the details, but allegedly the Guildmaster of the Jewelers' Guild, Yivvik Chourm, conspired with the fourth son of House Deepwinter, Lord Parnak, to eliminate the other claims to the title to allow Parnak to become head of the family and then join his guild with the Jeweler's Guild to form a bigger, more powerful faction as all the guilds contended for control of Waterdeep. The plot succeeded in that all other Deepwaters in line for the title were assassinated and the two guilds merged, but the alliance lasted for just over a year.

Fourteen months after Lord Parnak took over as the patriarch of the family, Guildmaster Ehlemm Zoar of the Gemcutters Guild was invited to join the coalition and in less than a year over six other guildmasters (both rivals and allies) had been slain, including Lord Parnak and Yivvik Chourm. Parnak perished with his mercenaries, barricaded in his own villa as it burned around them in 1260 DR.

In the, seven-year-old Kahla Deepwinter, youngest child of Tasima Deepwinter (Parnak's twin sister), was murdered by drowning in the Heroes' Garden pond—yet another victim of the Deepwater pogrom. Thereafter, her ghost, clad in a pale blue dress with curly red hair and dimples, manifested on nights of the full moon. The locals refered to her as the Child in the Bushes, the Deepwinter Ghost, or the Hostage of Heroes' Garden.

Other ghosts of the ill-fated Deepwinter clan appeared as wandering spots of icy cold or areas of unreasonable fear around the location of the Deepwinter stables. More than a century later, in the, Osbrin Selchoun moved his general store, Selchoun's Sundries Shop, into the building that replaced the burned out stables and his customers were occasionally accosted by these meandering apparitions.