Frustrated Quill returns to the group, "No tracks that I could find of the goliath, so yea prison sounds like our best bet for now."

Josias gives an annoyed grunt before sighing. "Josias Summerswift, formerly of the Coast." 

"Finnegan Taggert... Frederick of Nogvurot... Josias Summerswift..." He pens them quickly, then signs it, ripping out the page and handing it to Ambre. "There. And take these," He says, handing each of you a brass badge.

"These might help in your investigation. It'll show any locals, like guards or merchants, that you are working under the authority of the Watchmaster. As for you, Frederick of Nogvurot... I would have little influence in such a manner, but should you succeed, I could put in a good word with Starosta Zezbok. She would have the political pull to make such a request of the Academy."

As Quill returned to the group saying that Zabriss left no trail, Fritz felt thankful for sending Hans after the Goliath. It was a decision made in the heat of combat, when he saw the cloaked figure as nothing but an enemy to find and destroy - before being found and destroyed by her. Now it could bring more than a fair amount of gold. Thank you,  he said with the voice of his mind, thinking of the Changebringer.

“Thank you.” The Wizard spoke receiving the brass badge. He had expected the company of a soldier, but that should suffice. “For that, the honesty and the help with the Starosta, should everything go right.”

Fritz wanted to ask if Gulchswattle would put any men of his own to investigate the few tracks they had of if the Watchmaster would be willing to send reinforcement should the group find the hideout of the fugitive, but he could imagine the answers. He studied enough History to know, war drained resources like few other things.

“So, to the prison?” He asks turning to his fellow bounty hunters.

Ambre takes the paper and reads it before putting it in her pocket. "Ya! Wait..." she looks around, "did anyone manage to get one of the explosives out of the kobolds? I want to see if I can figure out how it works later. If the Kyrn have managed to get ahold of black powder somehow, it'll be interesting to see how they went about using it."

Josias hands his device to her as he passes by. "Here. I was just going to throw it at the next bad guy, see if it explodes in their face." With that he continues down the street to the prison.

"I also have one, so if that gone blows up in your face, and I have not used mine, it is all yours." Quill responds to Ambre.

"Oh, don't worry it won't blow up in my face," Ambre says brightly. "I'm a very careful person."

Leaving the Watchmaster and his Crownsguard behind, you make your way toward the prison. Just a couple blocks away, it is easy to see the metallic sheen of many tall steel plates affixed to the mountainside - the outer walls of Gearhole Prison. Moonlight and still-smoldering fires frame the billowing smoke that pours from a gaping cavity in the rock and metal, marking the violent escape route made by the goliath and her accomplices. A few Crownsguard stand watch around the site, and once you're close they make a move to try and stop you, but you quickly flash your badges and their demeanor shifts. 

"I'm Sergeant Korgin. Watchmaster sent you, eh? Another bounty hunter's already here, but you're welcome to investigate as well," A half-orc Crownsguard states as they guide you into the scene. A ten-foot wide hole edged with steel and jagged rock opens up above a pile of rubble. Beyond the hole is a badly damaged stone prison cell, little more than soot-stained walls and an overturned bed charred on one side. A thin skylight above the hole matches others alongside it in the steel wall, and was apparently the cell's window. A mangled chamber pot is embedded in the right wall, where an elf in a long leather coat is pulling it from the stone. She pockets three charred pieces of paper from the brass pot before turning and acknowledging your presence.

"Ah, hello there. You on the trail of the fugitive as well? Heard the blast from the Idleworks Shelf - I even got here before the Crownsguard did," She brags, flashing a similar badge to your own, then gives a small bow. "Yinra Emberwind. Done some work for the Watchmaster for the past few weeks. I was just finishing up here, actually. Good luck finding Zabriss - you'll need it, if you're going to beat me to her." 

She starts to head out of the destroyed cell. Sergeant Korgin clears their throat. "Feel free to look around. If you've got any questions, I'll do my best to help."

You could stop Yinra and try to talk to her before she leaves; otherwise, if you would rather search for clues in the prison, everyone roll investigation checks.

Josias will ignore Yinra and begin to look at the rubble.

Investigation: 14

Ambre seems more interested in investigating the cell than talking to the women.

Investigation: 22

((So 250 doesn't divide evenly into 6 shares, so we could each take 40 and there is just 10 gold chilling out for party needs?))

Silent as a shadow, Fritz kept the pace with the rest of the group. Part of him wanted to stop and cast Mage Armor, after all it was certain that whenever they found Zebriss there would be a fight and without the spell he was not exactly hard to hit. It would be unwise, at best, to expect the same luck he had in the previous confront. But then it was extremely unlikely that they would be attacked again in the city. Maybe I should keep energy to elaborate spells.

He kept his mind on the question until they arrived at Gearhole. Admittedly, it was a short walk and the guards only tried stop them until seeing their badges. What truly surprised him was the presence of another bounty hunter. They had only battled Zabriss group, yet someone was already at her cell. Yinra Emberwind was a confident and talkative woman. Her words almost corroborating with the Wizard’s suspicions.

“One moment, my lady.” Fritz says to the elf, before turning to Korgin. “Sergeant, is there any witness of Ms. Emberwind narrative or are we believing her word without further inquire?”

Notes:

• I’m assuming the Sergeant was close enough to hear Yinra speak, specifically the part about she being there before the Crownsguard.
• About the gold - I defer to the majority’s decision.  

"Some folks up on the Shelf confirmed her alibi; she wasn't anywhere near the prison at the time of the explosion," Sergeant Korgin says. "Nor do we have any reason to believe she is connected to what transpired."

Korgin was the first to answer. Apparently the Sergeant shared Fritz’s doubts, if only for a moment. He had checked Yinra’s history and found that she had no connection with Sken. Better than wasting time on an innocent suspect.

“Thank you, Sergeant.” He said nodding his head in the direction of the half-orc. “I am sure the lady, being a bounty hunter herself, can understand my previous doubt.” At least he would understand if the roles were inverted. “With any suspicion clear of her I feel rather comfortable to share that we have just found Zebriss.” He continues, this time talking directly with Emberwind. “By the time we were neither in the services of the Watchmaster nor conscious of her status as a fugitive, so we didn’t really bother with capturing her. We did, however, get certain information that someone hunting our Goliath would find of interest.”

Fritz expected that would ger he attention of the elf. After all, for a bounty hunter, information was often the difference between life and death.

“Now, I could not help but notice that you retrieved three pieces of paper from the chamber pot embedded on the right wall - pieces of paper that could be of interest for us.” He left the last words unsaid, a proposition of exchanging knowledge.

Yinra stops, turning back to Fritz. "Well, very observant of you, pretty boy. Though I can't think what you might know that could possibly be of interest to me... However, I'm not opposed to hearing you out. You're suggesting some sort of trade, hunter to hunter?"

While Yinra was talking to Fritz, Quill would study her words and see if she is holding anything back.

Insight: 19

Finn thinks about the situation as he wanders about the cell. Speaking to no one in particular he ruminates, "Something is not quite adding up here..." as he takes a closer look at the hole that was blown in the cell, specifically if he can tell whether the hole was blown in or out.

Investigation: 4

“What can I say? You know how to catch eyes, pretty girl.” As soon as he finished speaking he allowed a brief smile to take his lips. “You have three pieces of paper and we have three bits of information. The first is the true form of Zabriss reinforcements in battle, including a specific trap they can deploy against enemies.” The Kobolds with planted explosives. “The second is an ability she wields and that can drastically change the curse of a combat, one that is neither evident nor expected of someone like her.” The abnormal use of Fog Cloud. “And the last one is the way by which we are having her moves tracked at this very moment.” The familiar following her. “This last one won’t secure you the prize because you would still need to arrive before us at the end of the track and we have someone pretty fast here.”

Upon his last words he pointed to Quill, knowing that the very image of a Tabaxi translated into agility.

“I propose you show us a piece of paper at time and after each piece I tell you one of the three information.” Fritz added calmly, doing his best to be as hard to read as he could, even though he spoke the truth and had each one of the things he enumerated. “Of course, the tracking will be the last I will give you.”

Notes:

@ Party: Fritz is speaking the truth and evidently not revealing all that he knows so a Insight check would just reinforce his words. The thing is that as much as the DM can says that Fritz's points are enough by themselves as forego a Charisma check he may also ask for it and Fritz doesn't exactly exude charisma. So I would like to ask if anyone in the party could/would take the conversation as a distraction and try getting the pieces of paper in case of a negative answer from Yinra? Or would it be a batter strategy to get it by force after she leaves the area with the guards? (Or even let og of the papers altogether?)

@DM: Would someone of the party acting like that be metagaming? Would anyone even be able to act now after the investigation checks?

(Right now I'd say Ambre, Josias, and Finn are investigating at the moment; Quill is keeping an eye on Yinra as you talk, and Lani has yet to state what they are going to do. I think technically it would be because you're relying one someone charismatic to save you when you took the lead in the conversation; however, that was an interesting bargain to make, and I enjoy rewarding creative thinking, so I will let you forego the charisma check that would be needed.)

Yinra smirks at Fritz, though whether it is out of admiration or amusement is hard to tell. She crosses her arms and steps forward, just a few feet away from Fritz. The wizard stands about five inches taller than her, so the elf is looking up at him with her bright eyes narrowed. "Alright, color me intrigued. Tell me what you know, pretty boy, and you'll get a scrap each. I think I've already determined the information on them anyway; but I could stand to know more, and this strikes me as a fair trade."

Quill, as far as you can tell, the haughty elf isn't hiding anything. She seems genuinely devoted to hunting down Zabriss, and she seems to be intrigued by the idea of having some competition.

I take it Fritz will keep his word and share the information accurately in exchange for the paper scraps. If so, they piece together to form a mangled letter. See the image below. If he is going to try and feed her any misinformation, I will require a retroactive deception check; otherwise, I will treat it as though you will give Yinra accurate info.

Yinra hums as Fritz explains all he knows. "How peculiar... the plot thickens. Whoever sent the note must have sent the kobolds... Hm... I think I know exactly where I need to go from here, now. You may think you have the upper hand currently, but rest assured I'll still beat you to Zabriss. You have my thanks, pretty boy; I'll be sure to save enough of my reward money to buy you a drink!" She chuckles, giving Fritz a wink before walking off.