Hotel workers! To me!

[Antisocial_Worker]

I need some help from you out there who work in hotels... You see, I'm writing a novel and I need to give the character a weapon with which to fight off the creeping horror. The story takes place in a large resort hotel, and try as I might, I can't think of a decent weapon to give him that would be found in a hotel.

The character is in the basement, in a storage area, having just come out of a laundry room. You who have access to such things, would you mind taking a look and seeing what might be handy in a hotel storage area that you could use to dispatch fiends?

The more creative the better! So far I've rejected lamps, and stacked banquet chairs, and nothing else has really seemed useful for use as a weapon. The character has also come across boxes of toiletries, cleaning supplies, irons and ironing boards, coffeemakers, microwaves, and mini-fridges. He did hurl a glass lampshade to distract the beast, but that won't last long.

Help!

[bhskittykatt]

Right now we have hot apple cider in our lobby. It's in a metal container, the stand of which has some sharp corners and oil candles to keep it hot. We have cases of those extra candles somewhere. We also have oil for the tiki torches, too.

There's lots of stuff in the kitchen that is potentially dangerous. Cast iron skillets, and lots of glass.

There's a lot of liquor in the liquor room, too. Combine that with candles and...I"m going on a bit of a pyro kick here.

You could load up a luggage cart with tiki torch oil and liquor and light it and send it down the hall and...pyro kick again.

I mean, we have serious chemicals. Cleaning chemicals, pool chemicals, that liquid heat crap that dissolves clogs in the plumbing.

We have a paper cutter in the back. Those always make good weapons.

The maintenance shop has all sorts of tools. Saws and hammers and box cutters and stuff.

We also have a shuttle van, golf carts, and a little itty bitty parking lot vehicle that isn't much bigger than a golf cart.

We have a volleyball net and tennis nets that could be used for something. We also have horseshoes (if you've ever gotten hit by an errant horseshoe, you understand how much they hurt!). We have metal sticks for toasting marshmallows that we keep nearby for guests.

We have a game of Monopoly. That's never a safe bet.

[Antisocial_Worker]

How much of that stuff might be stored in an outside maintenance shed, and how much in the basement? The character is armed with a spray bottle of bleach, which is great for monsters with eyes, but now he's having to fight something that doesn't have eyes...

[Gizmo]

Towels. sounds stupid but they can do lots of confusion.

Also does the hotel have stuff like spare shavers and sewing kits? or even kitchen knives?

Take towel, wreck a few razors and take the blades out.... sew them into one edge of the towel and you have a partial weapon. Especially if you wet the towel.

Another thought.... does the hotel have any fancy vases? the ones with the clear stones etc in them? Scatter those in a corridor and use them like marbles under the feet of the the monster.

Thirdly... the housekeeping carts - self propelled missiles.

Knives can be used as throwing tools.

[KhirasHY]

I've never seen a hotel storage area without a crowbar in it somewhere...

[Jester]

Hotel bar: liquor bottles, wine bottles, beer bottle, all of which can be dangerous full, empty, or broken; corkscrews; wine keys; bottle openers; fruit knives; cutting boards; detergent; bleach; various glasses; cooler doors (the kind where you reach down into the cooler for something, say a beer--those doors come right off and would make handy weapons); ice scoops; ice buckets; computers; printers; cash drawers; video games.

Hotel kitchen: knives of all shapes and sizes; cutting boards; attachments for stand mixers; pots, pans, skillets, and a bunch of things that could get hot; forks; crocks of various sizes; any number of frozen items.

Hotel maintenance: crowbars; bolt cutters; chainsaws; hacksaws; lawnmowers; weed whackers; screwdrivers; wrenches; hammers; chisels; picks; buckets; mops; brooms; plungers; signs; belt sanders; paint; rakes; shovels; sledgehammers.

[AccountingDrone]

All good suggestions.

Large format [like 20 qt or larger] stock pot lids, if your kitchen has the really good commercial heavy duty ones, impromptu shield [buckler style] in combination with a meat sabre, wicked good. A forschner 401-38 is 14 inches and pretty solid. I happen to use a 403-12 which is no longer made.

[bhskittykatt]

How much of that stuff might be stored in an outside maintenance shed, and how much in the basement? The character is armed with a spray bottle of bleach, which is great for monsters with eyes, but now he's having to fight something that doesn't have eyes...

Explodey stuff would probably be stored outside, but the main maintenance shop is inside our hotel. The cleaning chemicals are also stored inside. I know that liquid plumber chemical is caustic as hell and could give your monster chemical burns.

I just remembered we also have corkscrews on the housekeeping carts, too. They could make good close-range stabby things in a pinch.

[Jester]

I forgot the most dangerous thing you'd find in a hotel bar: the bartender.

[Kittish]

Take a broom, or plunger, or shovel, or anything with a long handle really. Wrap a couple of towels or a sheet around one end, really tight. Soak the towels with lamp oil, or booze, or whatever other combustible chemical you have to hand. Apply flame. Fire works for dispatching most beasties, eyes or no.

Small microwaves would make decent projectiles, if they're not too heavy for throwing. All those sharp edges and corners... Of course, with any missile weapon you also have to take into consideration the possibility of return fire.

Fire extinguishers. Even a small one would make a dandy bludgeon, and they can also be used to temporarily blind any beasties that rely on vision.

Don't be too quick to dismiss that stack of banquet chairs. Break off one or more legs for decent stabbity weapons.

The irons strike me as being a potential bola/flail type weapon. Hang on to the cord and swing the iron. Used as a bola, it could be used to entangle a beastie long enough to bash whatever passes for its head in with another iron.

[Antisocial_Worker]

The irons strike me as being a potential bola/flail type weapon. Hang on to the cord and swing the iron. Used as a bola, it could be used to entangle a beastie long enough to bash whatever passes for its head in with another iron.

I'm trying to arm him with a weapon that will last until he can find the really good weapon that got brought into the hotel by someone else who is currently trapped. Right now, he keeps passing by storage bays filled with shelves of stuff, while the monster is bumbling around down near the laundry room doors, trying to investigate as best it can the broken lampshade.

I'm thinking of having the maintenance shop be close by so he can pop in and find something good.

So far he's had to give up two good weapons as it is -- the first when the ultimate monster in the hotel took a fireplace poker from him, bent it in half, and tossed it away. The second was a long stickball stick that he dropped out of shock when the monster he'd just beaten to death came right back to life.

[Gizmo]

Maintenance bay: battery powered drill, nail gun or a chainsaw/strimmer (if the property has grounds with trees and hedges...)

[BroSCFischer]

Got some putters around here for the "indoor Mini-golf course" (not what you are probably picturing ).

I know we have a metal ruler somewhere around here, but that's FD and not laundry. The putter COULD be found in the Laundry room if the guest left it on the ground and HK recovered it.

I dunno about anything else right now.

SC

[Jester]

Some hotels and resorts have shuffleboard. I remember playing it at the hotel my family stayed at in Cape Cod a few summers in my childhood. Those sticks can be quit dangerous...

[Antisocial_Worker]

For those of you who might have been curious, the weapon I've chosen is a short-handled sledgehammer from the hotel's maintenance and restoration department.