Starting in the Champagne district they worked their way south and set up a base only 25 miles from Avignon, where the Pope of that time lived.
The Pope suggested they might like to go to Italy to give military aid to the Marquis of Montferrat who was feuding with the powerful Visconti family of Milan.
After hearing the Lord of Pavia was sick he teamed up with Luchino Novello Visconti of Genoa to attack the town.
At the Battle of Canturino bridge near Romagnano Sesia in Piedmont Sterz's forces overcame the opposition and the injured Landau was captured, dying later that day from his injuries.
At the end of 1365, he signed up with the Papal States and suffered a defeat at the hands of the Perugian forces led by his erstwhile colleague Bongardo.