Live Me Not

Submitted for End Master's Prompt Contest 5: A story about a traveling merchant.

An eternal flower for a dying princeling. The future of a kingdom weighed against the greed of a visiting merchant.

Tonio normally wanted nothing to do with nobles and their fickle ways. While they had more gold to pay, they were almost invariably terrible customers who were hard to please. But when the King of Spireshade made him an offer he couldn't refuse, Tonio saw the opportunity to make his most earnest desires come true.

But how far will a man go for the castles that reside in his dreams? How much will he sacrifice along the way? This is what the choices you make will determine.

Author's note: This is a gauntlet style story game with a branch and bottleneck structure. There are multiple paths to get to the final act with several ways to fail along the way. You'll know you've made it when you start seeing pages starting with ~f. From the final act, there are four possible endings.