Electrical issues - 95 Q45 Auto - any advice is appreciated

[JohnnyShams]

I've lurkerd this forums for a while, finally decided to sign up (of course its when i have an issue I cant solve lol) but anyway, here goes.

A few hours ago I drove about 3 miles to the gas station to pick up a few things, made it there and back with no problem, when I got back home, put the car in park, turned off the engine and the key wouldnt come out - stuck on ACC

How frustrating, figured I'd try and start it up then turn it off, see if the key would come out but....... it wouldnt start, no noises, no lights, blinkers, no power what so ever.

I took the cover off the column and pushed the little clip (I guess it was stuck? I dunno) with ease, pulled the key out to some relief, but when I put it back in to try and start the car - again, no power whatsoever.

Key isnt sticking anymore, so I guess thats one issue resolved but that still leaves the power issue. No matter what I've tried, its like, the car isnt recognizing that there is a key in the ignition.

I've spent about 2 hours googling, searching the forums here, trying all things mentioned but to no avail, so if anyone can lend any assistance, I would be forever grateful.

Things i've tried:

-Opening the trunk to disable any security whatevers
-Knocked the starter / solonoid
-Took the power cable off the battery, waited, put it back on
-Tried to give it a jump
-Checked fuses

I'm aware it could be a relay, but I personally feel that the key getting stuck is an attributing factor to its current state. If anyone has any ideas, questions, recommendations I'd love to hear them cause I'm absolutely stumped

[EDIT] to add to this, the key wasnt coming out even when pushing the key release, hence why I dismantled the column

[JohnnyShams]

So............. funny thing.

I stopped smoking about 2 years ago and havent had a lighter on me since. Back when I used to smoke, I avoided yellow lighters like the plague as I've always considered them to be bad luck.

One of my items purchased at the store before this mess happened was a yellow lighter. I of course knew my stance on said lighters but figured what the heck, superstitions superstitions. After this whole mess, I tossed the lighter, blaming it of course for the recent troubles all done in frustration.

I ended up going back out and messing around with the Q exploring alternative options, repeating others, one of which, was the battery pull.

This is a brand new battery so of course I ruled it out as a cause but it turns out....... pulling the battery again, cursing at the thing and a small blood sacrifice from a cut on my finger dripped on the post seems to have done the trick. Put the terminals back on, stuck the key in the ignition and viola, back to being the Q I know. Funny thing, someone picked up the lighter I tossed as it wasnt where it was earlier, god speed to whoever has that thing.

As to how/what/why the battery ended up being the issue, I dunno, I still think it has something to do with the key being stuck but I guess this thread can be closed now and since I'm registered now I'll stick around rather than lurk :p

tl;dr DONT BUY YELLOW LIGHTERS

[Rogue One]

So............. funny thing.
DONT BUY YELLOW LIGHTERS

Glad it woked out ok. And You stopped smoking. And for the tip on not buy Yellow lighters!