Euryale's Gambit

Euryale's Gambit is the second visual novel in the Euryale Succubus Trilogy. The story takes place directly following the events in Catching Heat when Euryale travels back in time to 1858 in order to reunite with Spoons and try to prevent a war from breaking out over the practice of slavery.

#### Major Characters

* Euryale
* Spoons
* Echo
* Ceraphina
* Igret

#### Story

##### Arrival, Reunion with Spoons (version 0.1)

After arriving in 1858, Euryale tracks down Spoons somewhere in the North United States. After finding him and explaining that she is from the future, they discuss how they will go about ending the practice of slavery which, Euryale explains, is the major cause of the war. Spoons had already been working on a plan to cause economic damage to slave holders by conducting raids on plantations and forcibly freeing slaves years earlier when Spoons and Euryale met in 1854. Spoons, realizing that if Euryale had come back from the future to stop the war, that his plan had failed and would require modification in order to be successful.

Euryale explained to Spoons that with her help and the help of the items she brought with her, namely a phone with the contents of wikipedia on it, they might be able to stop the war. Spoons agrees to try and they start traveling south the next morning.

##### Travel South and Echo's rescue

The two split up and while traveling south, Euryale encounters a number of Bounty Hunters who are escorting captured slaves back to the south. The last encounter is a group of three bounty hunters who have captured a runaway slave by the name of Echo. The bounty hunters are in the process of beating Echo when Euryale arrives. While the bounty hunters are distracted over the sudden appearance of Euryale in her succubus form, Echo ambushes one of the bounty hunters and panic ensues. Both Euryale and Echo fight the remaining two bounty hunters.

In the game, if you lose the fight, Euryale uses her power of deception to make herself appear as a supernatural angel of death. The bounty hunters run away in fear. Echo, feeling he owes Euryale a life debt, agrees to accompany her and help her in any way he can. Euryale explains that it isn't necessary for him to repay her, but she appreciates his company on the account of him being a strong fighter.

##### Arrival at camp, Acolyte encounter (version 0.2)

After arriving at camp, Euryale and Echo head into the local town "Townsville" for supplies. Euryale creates a new form to avoid too much attention while carrying out business in the public. While in the town they hear an acolyte from the town's cathedral preaching a public sermon in front of the cathedral. The acolyte is preaching that slavery is justified by a "curse" brought upon groups of people by the gods. He also speaks what Euryale believes to be propaganda about relations with the North. Euryale makes a note to visit the Acolyte that night in order to stop him from further spread of this propaganda.

The two return to camp and are reunited with Spoons who traveled with Euryale's equipment from the future. Euryale explains the equipment's functions and tells Spoons about the acolyte in town. Spoons encourages Euryale to avoid using violence unless it is absolutely necessary. Euryale agrees to use her powers of seduction instead.

That night, Euryale sneaks into the acolyte chamber and paralyzes him with her succubus pheromones. The pheromones also cause heightened arousal and the acolyte begs for release. Euryale agree's to help him if he agrees to stop preaching the propaganda. The acolyte, who identifies as Samual, agrees and tells her that he was just following the orders of his "master" who will be visiting the cathedral later that week. Euryale makes plans to visit him as well. To ensure the acolyte does what he agreed to do, Euryale leaves him with a ruined orgasm and still in a heightened state of arousal. The acolyte cries and begs for relief but Euryale leaves. During the next few days, Samual prays to the gods for Euryale to return. The angel Ceraphina hears some of his prayers and sets a trap for Euryale at the entrances to the cathedral.

##### First Plantation Raid (version 0.4)

After some preparation and planning, Euryale and Echo head to the Smith Plantation. There are two guards at the slave house and by an ambush, Euryale is able to kill the one who is armed. After a quick fight with the remaining guard, Euryale heads to the plantation mansion to kill the slave owner and find loot. During the exploration of the mansion, Euryale finds both free mason artwork and other strange symbols and artwork throughout the house. She hears some noise from one of the upper rooms and after entering the room she sees a scene that triggers a panic attack. In the room there is the mansion owner and his wife sexually abusing a slave couple. She briefly has a flash back to a scene she recognizes but doesn't remember. The room she and the four others changes into a stone room with pillars and on one side, lays a golden trident. She closes her eyes in an attempt to calm herself but failed when the thoughts of what the man in particular was doing overwhelmed her. In a fit of fury, Euryale seizes the man by his neck and confronts him about his actions. Euryale's vision narrows to just the man. The room is gone and the two hover suspended in darkness with only the full moon to provide light. The man claims that he was "just having fun" and asks "what does [the slave girl] mean to [Euryale]". Still not quite in control, Euryale yells back "She's everything to me!" before killing the man by striking his lower jaw with newly grown claws ripping it off in an explosion of gore.

Still in shock, Euryale finds herself back in the room but her focus is on her newly grown claws. The claws are made of bronze and while they seem familiar to Euryale, she doesn't remember ever having claws before. She then turns her focus to the slave girl who is helping her slave husband to unbind from the chair. Euryale doesn't understand why she said what she did about the girl as she had never seen the woman before.

Meanwhile, the wife of the slave owner becomes enraged at the murder of her husband. In her rage she reaches for the pepper-shot six-shot pistol sitting on a table nearby. She aims the gun from her hip hoping to kill Euryale but being inexperienced with the weapon, misses and instead hits the male slave who had just been untied and was embracing his wife. The bullet hits the man in his heart and he dies instantly. Euryale snaps out of her shock and quickly knocks the pistol armed woman against the wall rendering her unconscious. Euryale turns and tries to convince the crying woman to come back to the camp with her but the woman is angry and blames Euryale for what happened to her husband.

###### Young Euryale Flashback

Euryale takes a long time to return and Spoons is anxiously awaiting her a short distance from the camp. While waiting, Spoons recalls how he and Euryale first met in 1854. Earlier that night, Euryale had been trying to seduce a man in a village to extract lust energy from him. Her attempt was thwarted by the man's wife who, believing her husband to be cheating, entered into the room and shot Euryale with a shotgun which hit her in the shoulder. Euryale fled before the woman could shoot her again and was walking through the forest where Spoons had been writing in her invisible form. Spoons hears her and when turning the light to her can see her even in her invisible form. Euryale is surprised and amused that he can see her and becomes curious to learn more about this man.

###### Euryale Returns

After a short while, Spoons hears someone in the forest behind him. It's Euryale, finally returned from the raid. She's crying and after Spoons asks her what the matter is, she tries to explain what happened but her emotional state make it hard for her to communicate coherently. Spoons makes a note to figure out exactly what happened another time. For now, he believes, Euryale needs reassurance and comfort.

##### Euryale's Underground Railroad (version 0.5)

The next morning Spoons goes to town for supplies and for information. He finds that the town is in an uproar with gossip about a mysterious "demon" who killed Smith. Apparently Mrs Smith regained consciousness and reported the incident to local authorities. He learns that the brothers of Smith were looking for the slaves that had also managed to escape that night. Spoons returns to camp and tells Euryale that she should help the now freed slaves get far enough north from the town that they would not be in danger. Spoons splits some of the loot Euryale found between the refugees and they start traveling north along the road. Euryale flies ahead and finds a blockade on the road with several bounty hunters including Smith's brother. Euryale fights the bounty hunters and the free refugees continue north to freedom.

##### Return to the Cathedral

###### Ceraphina Encounter

That night, Euryale returns to the Cathedral but triggers a trap set by the angel Ceraphina who quickly appears. Ceraphina denies Euryale entrance believing that because she is responsible for so many recent deaths, she is going to do something evil inside the holy building. Euryale refuses to back down and decides to defeat the angel using seduction instead of violence. After Ceraphina is overwhelmed with lust, Euryale helps Ceraphina find relief. The experience is so intense for the virgin angel that she passes out and Euryale proceeds into the cathedral.

###### Cathedral Guard

Euryale notices a large number of guards posted within the cathedral that weren't there before. She soon realizes that they can see her in her invisible form as they engage her in battle.

###### Encounter with Igret and the Master

After fighting through several waves of cathedral guards, Euryale rushes to engage the religious order's master. She is stopped from engaging with the master by a blast of power that pins her against the wall. Behind the master emerges a succubus queen who identifies herself as Igret. Igret appears to know Euryale and asks her what mischief she is up to. Euryale explains her mission and Igret replies that it should be impossible for Euryale to care enough about anything to engage in such a mission. She tells Euryale that Euryale came to the succubus queens and asked to have her memory wiped after the death of her sister. Ingret explains that after her memory had been erased, the succubus queens convinced Euryale that she was a succubus and ordered her to serve them. Although Euryale was a powerful servant, Euryale had kept on causing trouble by helping people, especially battered or mistreated women, instead of sewing lust and chaos, a staple diet for demons. The queens cursed Euryale with apathy which kept her from any more noble acts for hundreds of years following her curse induced amnesia.

Euryale is shocked by the revelation that she has a sister but before she can get details, Igret gives her a warning not to continue her mission and disappears with the master leaving her alone. In frustration she cries out with a ground-shaking shriek of agony. Ceraphina, who had witnessed the conversation with Igret, approaches Euryale and, seeing that Euryale is not on the side of the demons, offers her help to Euryale.

Igret ward of energy drain continued to work on Euryale until the fell unconscious shortly after reaching the camp. There Ceraphina explained what had transpired and explained that Euryale was more than a succubus. Spoons, who had done some research earlier had suspicions on Euryale's true identity but decided to wait for further evidence before making any claims.

##### Building a revolution (version 0.6)

Euryale remained asleep for an entire week meanwhile both the camp and Igret worked behind the scenes towards their ends.

###### Igret and Ashmedai

Igret, somewhat worried about Euryale continuing her quest, assigns a half-succubus/half demon named Ashmedai (Ash) to observe and stop Euryale should she continue her quest.

Ash becomes reluctant to kill Euryale because she has never been assigned to kill another succubus. Despite her reservations, Ash disguises herself as a slave and positions herself in a plantation in Townsville.

###### Igret and Lincoln

After leaving Townsville, Igret journeys to Illinois to meet with an up and coming politician names Abraham Lincoln. Igret convinces him to join her new political party and encourages him to continue his position of anti-slavery.

###### Euryale Awakens

After sleeping for a week, Euryale awakens, feeds, but is still too week to contribute to any plantation raiding. Meanwhile, Pamela, Ceraphina and Echo continue raiding while Euryale recovers. Several weeks later, Echo introduces Euryale to a chemist called "Bunsen". He has agreed to research polyester material synthesis provided enough materials and equipment. Euryale expresses frustration over how long it is going. Spoons suggests that they send a party to purchase large quantities of silk in China and flood the local markets causing the local cotton economy to collapse. Spoons does not want Euryale to go. Euryale explains that she has to go in order to free her younger self from the curse of apathy, but she doesn't yet know how to break the curse.

###### Encounter with Ashmedai

Once recovered, Euryale continues raiding and looting plantations. At one raid, she enters a room to find a crying woman and a dead, presumably, mansion owner. She approaches the woman, but the woman runs into a nearby forest in fear. Euryale pursues her and the woman transforms into a succubus named Ashmedai. The two engage in a succubus-corruption battle where the loser becomes bound to the winner. After a long fight, Euryale emerges victorious. She tells Ashmedai to go home, but Ashmedai is afraid to go home and face her mother, Igret after failing her mission. She begs Euryale to take her with her, but Euryale refuses. Ashmedai mentions her sister and Euryale reconsiders. Ashmedai says she knows about Euryale's other sister who Euryale doesn't know about. Euryale agrees to take Ash provided she tell Euryale everything she knows.

##### Spoons Betrayal (version 0.7)

Upon arriving back at camp, Euryale introduces Ashmedai to Spoons, Echo and the others. Ashmedai is asked to tell Euryale and the others about Igret's plot and about Euryale's older sister, Stheno. Spoons interrupts and confesses that hew knew about Stheno's existence and Euryale's true identity but withheld that information for fear Euryale would abandon him to go looking for Stheno. In anger Euryale flies off and Ashmedai and Ceraphina follow. After catching up to Euryale on a cliffside, all three plan how they will break the curse of apathy on younger Euryale by travelling to China.

##### Preparing to head west (version 0.8)

Euryale makes final preparations to head to China via San Francisco. They plan on making a stop along the way at a silver deposit so that they will have funds to purchase silk and passage. Euryale also confronts Spoons and learns that she a primordial goddess who was betrayed by Igret. She learns who killed her sister, Medusa and vows revenge against those who wronged her. Spoons reminds her that Stheno, who is still Igret's personal assassin, is still being wronged and still doesn't know who she is. Euryale is overwhelmed by her tasks she has to accomplish before she can return to her future timeline.