Well, I've written myself into a corner again...

[Antisocial_Worker]

As AnaKhouri here can attest, I've been working on a novel for quite a while now. Lately, thankfully, I've been busting right along with chapters falling off like cat hair during shedding season.

However, I find myself in a quandary. I would like some advice on what you all think.

Here's the situation:

There is a room you would dearly like to check out in a monstrous, haunted hotel. You can't go to that room because the hallway that leads to it is infested with enormous, carnivorous bugs. You have been sent on a dubious errand in another part of the building, but because something is worrying you terribly, you now really want to go check out that room because you've been told by a trustworthy source that something in there will give you hope and resolve.

What do you do? The bugs are under the carpet, and if they sense you coming, they'll come out and start trying to munch.

The current situation: You are currently en route to the bathroom to scrape off the remains of an exploded child. There are potentially two different people you might find in the bathroom.

Option A: You find a dead body. Do you drag it over to the hallway in hopes the bugs might be attracted to it while you go take a quick peek? If so, and you're in that room for a while, what do you do when you come out? Big bugs, thousands of them, still under the carpet.

Option B: You find your bitterest enemy, hog-tied with phone cords. Do you drag her over to the hallway in hopes the bugs will be attracted to her while you go take a quick peek? If so, and you're in that room for a while, what do you do when you come out? Big bugs, thousands of them, still under the carpet. Also, if you do drag your enemy over there, do you watch while the bugs have a meal? You know that if she gets free, terrible things will happen.

Option C: You find something else in the bathroom that sends you screaming back out into the hall. You still want to go look in that other room. Would you perhaps flip a table upside down in the hallway and push it along in hopes of crushing the bugs under the carpet?

The problem with Options A and B is that it sounds too much like a Stupid Horror Movie Character Decision (tm). Anyone with any sense will not drag the enemy over and just hope the bugs eat her while they go do something else. Sensible people will sit and watch, which defeats the purpose of a distraction in the first place. However, it is rather important that she gets loose to advance the plot later. Likewise, if you use a corpse to attract the bugs, what guarantee is there they'll still be busy eating when you get done in the mysterious room?

Do you see my problem?

Please advise

[Ironclad Alibi]

As AnaKhouri here can attest, I've been working on a novel for quite a while now. Lately, thankfully, I've been busting right along with chapters falling off like cat hair during shedding season.

However, I find myself in a quandary. I would like some advice on what you all think.

Here's the situation:

There is a room you would dearly like to check out in a monstrous, haunted hotel. You can't go to that room because the hallway that leads to it is infested with enormous, carnivorous bugs. You have been sent on a dubious errand in another part of the building, but because something is worrying you terribly, you now really want to go check out that room because you've been told by a trustworthy source that something in there will give you hope and resolve.

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Please advise

Discover a secret corridor leading to the room? If not a secret corridor, perhaps a back corridor used only by staff to service the rooms. Not unlikely if the hotel is from an era when servants were not supposed to be seen.

[RayvenQ]

Assuming a lack of conviniently placed items, I would probably, to quote a friend of mine from a videogame "Run like fuck" in and out of the room the logic being, you'd squish any bubs you'd step on before they had a chance to burrow through your shoes (assuming they have that capability) and your velocity would make it more difficult for any climbing bugs to get a purchase on your clothing long enough for them to burrow through it (again if they have that capability) also brushing off your legs as you walk (if possible pulling down sleeves if they are long) to knock any that get on you off.

[MoonCat]

My first choice as this character would be to drag my enemy over there. I already KNOW they're going to attack; that's why I'm afraid to go down that hall. I will also try to do whatever needs doing in that room as fast as possible so that I get out again before the bugs are done munching.

I'm assuming that this character is cold enough to essentially murder another person (bad or not) and can take the sound of munching and agonized screams.

As the author, I would find a way for said enemy to get away, and just generally make it harder for the main character to get to and from that room. Maybe the bugs chew through the phone cords used to tie her up, and she gets away with some minor (or not so minor) bug-inflicted injuries.

Or, I'd look for a way for the character to get to that room without stirring up the bugs. Can he/she go through a window from outside? What about coming in through the ceiling or an air vent? Is there a way she or he can walk on the walls or ceiling? Do the bugs only come out when they feel footsteps? If so, what about sitting on a wheeled chair or a cart (hotels often have these things) and using that to get to the room? Do the bugs have any weaknesses? Can you exploit them?

I would only have the character get into and back out of that room if it's necessary for the plot to advance. And I'd make it as difficult as possible without getting too cheesey.

[Kal]

Maybe push your enemy into the hallway on an upturned table, so that it'd attract the bugs without immediately having them eaten? Then chuck some lamps/books/whatever's around near to her to attract the bugs up. Then leave them there while you go explore, sense of urgency from "they'll not keep them busy for long" explaining why leaving them alive.
They could survive if the bugs ate the cord through the table, chewing their way up if possible, or if they manouevered to get the cords near to the edge.
Corpse could be used the same way only without the escape.

[Buzzard]

Chemistry to the rescue? Soapy water, Windex, or anything else that will bust up oil fast will kill insects/spiders rather quickly.
Reason: Exoskeletons are VERY porous, and the crunchy critter's internal fluids are held in by a thin coating of oil. Get rid of the oil and he leaks to death pretty quick. (more time for bigger bugs, but it still works)

Go through a book or something and find this nifty housekeeping tip, then load up on the suds.

[rvdammit]

Apply Chandler's Law? "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."

[Kittish]

I like the soap idea. And hey, a bathroom is a great place to find some! As well as potentially buckets and/or spray bottles that can be used to transport and apply the homemade insecticide.

ETA: So a scenario occurs to me, based around option B. Go into the bathroom, find the enemy all trussed up. Start dragging said enemy to the buggy hall. "Hey, what are you doing?!" "Distracting some hungry bugs. Try not to scream too loud." "What?! Hey, you know you can kill them right? Soapy water, mix in some rubbing alcohol, and they'll curl up and die." "Hmm, sounds like a decent idea. If it doesn't work I can still feed you to them." Make up soapy water with rubbing alcohol, douse the bugs, meanwhile the enemy works loose and escapes.

(Rubbing alcohol strips away the waxy outer coating some bugs have as additional protection.)

[Antisocial_Worker]

Hm...

Let me address the ideas you all have given me so far, but first let me thank you very much!

Secret corridor or back corridor -- Possible, but not likely because the main character has already used a service corridor to access a kitchen. The room in question is an art gallery and probably wouldn't have such a corridor.

Outside access -- Not possible, because the entire hotel is sealed. No one and nothing can get in or out until the situation inside plays out. This is also why, while other characters remain to be revealed, nobody's going to come in and save the day.

Air vent -- Possible, but it might involve too much rewriting. So far the character hasn't had to resort to any spy tactics to get around. He's just been using hallways, staircases, and elevators.

Soapy bugs -- This holds promise. Currently, the character is armed with a spray bottle of bleach. He had a sledgehammer, but it was lost in a battle with a firebreathing skeleton and two other characters are currently fighting a horde of monsters to get it back. When the character first encountered the bugs, one emerged from a hole that had been torn in the carpet and came after him, at which point he kicked it into a nearby elevator door, where it broke apart and fell the to the floor, twitching. Looking up the hallway and seeing the carpet rippling down the entire length, he decided not to pursue the objective of going down to the art gallery just then.

Now, I had another idea that I'd like some feedback on if the soapy bug route just won't work. It has been noted in the narrative that in the enormous lobby of this hotel there are chandeliers made of copper hoops and and and quartz and amethyst crystal pendants. Over the course of the book, the lobby has been decaying at an accelerated rate. Would it be too much of a "deus ex machina" or would it be too Rube Goldberg-esque to have one of these chandeliers fall to the floor? The character could then strip an extension cord and plug it in to electrify the copper hoop, with the trussed-up enemy inside. Any hungry bugs attracted to her would scuttle along and have a nasty surprise when they touch the electrified hoop.

What say you all?

[BlaqueKatt]

Would it be too much of a "deus ex machina" or would it be too Rube Goldberg-esque to have one of these chandeliers fall to the floor? The character could then strip an extension cord and plug it in to electrify the copper hoop, with the trussed-up enemy inside. Any hungry bugs attracted to her would scuttle along and have a nasty surprise when they touch the electrified hoop.

What say you all?

maybe not if it occurs during something else, like a struggle with the trussed up person where things get knocked over and they fall once the protagonist is almost to the hallway(hears the crash and investigates discovering the hoops maybe buzzing from the current already in them), especially if they've been mentioned before. or make it seem like the protagonist is aware that it's awfully convenient and is leery(like wondering why the hotel is protecting trussed up enemy/thinking TUE caused it?).

[paperfiend]

I like option A2: find a dead body, and ALSO some way to take it apart into smaller pieces. Use half the body to get into the room (carrying the rest with you) and throw the second half out into the hallway for the bugs to have a second meal before departing the room.

[cindybubbles]

How about Option C. You find a mess of dead bugs in there, but you also find a clue about how they died. You then need to find the weapon or weapons that killed them so you can deal with the bugs under the carpet.

[Ironclad Alibi]

You mentioned being in a kitchen. Find some tin foil and make tin foil boots to protect from the bugs?

[Gizmo]

Find a rope and somehow lasso it to the other end so it sticks as a zipline.

Yeah, way OTT.... I know.

[Antisocial_Worker]

I think I'm going with Option C. He opened the bathroom door, saw something just dreadful and decided to close it again and try the women's room instead. Opened the door and saw something even more dreadful and can't close the door because the dreadful thing jammed it. Now it's a battle!

Which does nothing about getting him down that other hallway, but hopefully something will come to me.