Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl

Thurnher von Pjölk tasks Fratt and Alalia with a dangerous live interview in the post-Google Wars world. They prepare a ramshackle, live-broadcast setup and set course for Niederpröll. The mission is framed as a test of new media power and ideological change.

At the border, the Postal Service confiscates their equipment, stripping them of the tools they need to broadcast. The confiscation leaves them stranded and dependent on strangers for a way forward. The mission promptly shifts from interview to survival.

They are captured by barbarian settlers who revere relics of office life and EU subsidies, staging dangerous rituals around potential sacrifices. Fratt and Alalia must improvise, keeping their heads and trying to bargain for safety. The encounter underscores the brutal, scavenged reality of this new world.

Using grit, they fight their way free from bondage and escape into the wastelands. They realize they must endure harsh environments to reach any beacon of knowledge. The journey tests their resolve and forges their partnership.

They stumble upon a mining colony and shelter in an apparently abandoned underground complex. There they meet the elderly Philine-Codec Comtesse de Cybersdorf who hints Echsenfriedl's true role as the genuine inventor behind the era's great innovations. She also notes that Thurnher von Pjölk only performed the public-facing role.

Cannibal undead miners storm the room, forcing a brutal escape and the loss of crucial confidences. The attackers threaten to turn the pair into offerings to the relics. The friends narrowly slip away, clutching vital intel about Echsenfriedl's prominence and Pjölk's manipulation.

In the mining colony's outskirts, they meet Heinz Rand of Raiká, a libertarian drag queen leading a ragtag group trading old-world electronics. Alalia helps his group repair gear and, in gratitude, Heinz points them toward Echsenfriedl and offers his daughter Ayn as a guide. The alliance hints at a barter-driven path to the heart of the story.

Ayn guides them through ruined lands toward Echsenfriedl's lair. Her loyalty to the cause and her knowledge of the wastelands prove crucial. The journey tightens the alliance between Alalia's tech-driven ideals and the dangerous dream of Echsenfriedl.

They reach Echsenfriedl's lair after reuniting with Pjölk, who eagerly orders the broadcast but then retreats to craft a sensational headline for his next issue. The moment exposes Pjölk's opportunism and the fragility of media power in the ruins. Alalia and Fratt press forward, determined to reach Echsenfriedl.

Inside, Echsenfriedl reveals himself as a basilisk, and Ayn is turned to stone in a shocking twist. He recounts a life shaped by a fraught history with the Comtesse and asserts that Pjölk planned to murder early adopters with a single broadcast. The revelation shakes their faith in the chain of power.

Nerds listening in react with horror and anger, launching a backlash against Pjölk's regime from his own office. The uprising gains momentum as workers and enthusiasts rally behind Echsenfriedl's ideas. Pjölk's grip on control begins to crumble.

In the aftermath, Echsenfriedl hires Alalia and Fratt to help build a new media empire centered on his technologies. The film culminates with the duo broadcasting live as a lynch mob of Echsenfriedl's followers marches behind a radical, imagined future.