First things first, you would see if you could negotiate a favourable settlement with the regional authorities. Snatching Tanzig from under the order's nose would effectively deprive them of their access to the sea and reduce them to the area around Ulrichsburg.

You rode with a small entourage, one banner bearer and herald, to indicate your willingness to engage in diplomacy. You rode along slowly to the moat and the closed drawbridge. From the tower of the gatehouse, you were bid to halt.

''Hold, who goes there?'' [/i ]a generic greeting in times of war.

''Albrecht von Adlershorst, heir to the duchy of Greifswald, and Despot of the Mithradian Empire.''

Despot was your honorary title from your time in Mithras, and you had decided to make it a part of your style.

''State your business then or be gone.''

''I wish to speak to the mayor and the city commander. It does not matter if you send both or one; they have my lead to come hither.''

You received no reply; after a quarter, the drawbridge came down, and an old man on a palfrey came out to greet you. Judging from his clothing, his head, and the chain around his neck, this was the mayor of the city. You nudged your own horse forward to greet him formally.

''I have heard you wished to speak to me, thus I have come. I suppose you have come to deliver your terms?''

>Indeed I have, I shall require you to open the gates and strike the colours on the citadel
>My good man, I have come to liberate and regenerate this country from the arbitrary rule of the order, thus I ask of you to make Tanzig a part of that struggle.
>I can only ask of you to surrender, if you shan't, the consequences could be dire.
>Write-in