Another random quest, (GAY) (O/O) CLOSED

"Hmm… you couldn't communicate what you were saying, though…" Oci frowned, glaring up at the darkness. "If only I could also see through shadows instead of just manipulating them. If only I'd thought to bring some torches…" He trailed off, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "Wait… Ignis."

"Ah, gods, it didn't work that time." Oci let out an angry breath, then held his hand in front of him. "Ignis." A small ball of fire appeared, hovering over his hand. "There we go! Take that." He held his hand up higher and started up the stairs.

"Yep. Thank that scroll." Oci flashed a smile at Marco and continued up the stairs. They emerged into a large room, dimly lit by the fire in Oci's palm. There were shadowy shapes in the center, either furniture… or a monster. Oci took a few cautious steps towards the center of the room. As he walked, another staircase was revealed on the far side.

Oci kept a little distance between him and the shapes in the center of the room, just in case they really were creatures. But as he passed closer, it was revealed that it was just a table and chairs, covered with a thick layer of dust. He let out a breath of relief and picked up his pace towards the stairs.

The next floor was just as dark, although there was a little light coming from the staircase. It didn't appear like there was anything on this floor, which was fine with Oci. As he hurried towards the stairs to the next floor, his toe caught on a crack in the ground and he nearly fell. When he'd regained his balance, Oci knelt down and inspected the crack. "This looks like a carving, doesn't it?" Oci whispered to Marco, tracing it with one light finger. "Three rings locked together– oh." He stood quickly, eyes still fixed on the carving.

"This is the symbol of the god of deceit." Oci breathed, eyes flicking to Marco's face. "Either the person who owned this castle really loved them, or it was their castle in the first place. I don't know what that means for us. But I guess that could explain how this castle's managed to stay whole in this forest. It has a god's protection."

"Well, that's really lucky. Thorne was like, 'oh, people invading my tower? I think not– oh, stars, that was a shifter! Oops. Let's go to the side a little with that blast.' Maybe they'll just let you take the thing?" Oci asked hopefully. "No, actually, I don't think they will. At least, the version in the stories wouldn't." He shrugged and continued towards the stairs.

"That seems like them." Oci nodded and stepped onto the first step of the stairs. "I didn't know Thorne was the shifter's patron god. That's interesting." He walked up a few more steps as carefully as he could, not wanting to make any noises.

"Oh, that makes sense." Oci nodded and peeked into the next floor, which was lit by a large hole in the wall. The floor was marked with scratches, but other than that the room was empty, save for another staircase leading up. "Hey, look at that." He nodded towards the floor.
(Ooh, that sucks. You're totally fine.)

"Yeah. It's probably just up those stairs." Oci pointed towards the stairs. "I hope it is, at least. I don't want to walk up any more stairs than necessary." He skipped up the last few steps and crossed to the stairs, giving the next a wide berth.

Oci slowed when he neared the next floor. There wasn't a roof on this floor– either it was gone, or they were on the roof. He stopped when he reached the last few stairs and looked over the edge. In the center of the room, which really looked like the roof, was a stand made of pale golden metal. And sitting in the stand was the staff.

"I mean, if whatever guards it isn't there, we should probably do that before it comes back." Oci took a deep breath and took a few quick steps to the top of the staircase. He glanced over the edge and shivered– they were quite high up. Then he turned towards the staff and ran towards it.

"Nah. You're already hurt. Don't want you to get any worse." Oci took the final few steps and snatched the staff from the stand. "Alright, let's get out of here." He turned and started back to Marco.

Oci had only taken a few steps towards Marco when a shadow passed over the tower roof. "Edding gods!" He sprinted towards Marco, hoping whatever had caused that shadow was far away. Or at least far enough away that they could get away.

"Um… we should probably get out of the nest area as quickly as possible." Oci glanced at the sky through the hole in the wall. "Yeah, let's do that. It sounds like a good idea." He muttered to himself, running towards the staircase on the far wall.