What do Dead Bureaucrats have to do with alcohol?

Question

Recently while doing NPC transcriptions I came across a some curiosity. The Dead Bureaucrats are the NPCs related to the Pits of Inferno quest. These NPCs only respond to a few words. However, the one word they respond to seems very interesting. That word is alcohol. See for yourself how a Dead Bureaucrat responds to this word.

Player: alcohol

A Dead Bureaucrat: It is not allowed for us, but if you have some stuff with you … be my guest.

Perhaps alcohol could shorten the bureaucracy and make the quest easier to complete? Maybe you need to bring some type of alcohol and the NPC will respond differently? Or maybe their responses to alcohol is some kind of allusion to something in the real world ? I have not found answers to these questions. I would like to find out why these NPCs react to this word. So my question is this: What connection do Dead Bureaucrats have with alcohol and does alcohol have any use for these NPCs.

P.S. I would appreciate it if someone would check how the Dead Bureaucrats react to the word "alcohol" when doing the Pits of Inferno quest. I can't because I did this quest years ago.

Answer 1

Hello,

The most obvious reason he reacts to the word "alcohol" is a joke. The dead bureaucrats are minions of Pumin - the lord of despair. It seems that they are forbidden to eat - "I'm a bureaucrat who does not even find the time to eat" - nor drink alcohol, all in all enjoying life.

Another reason that comes to my mind could be the myth/claim that during prohibition era, officials were aware of poisoned alcohol. Since our official is a skeleton, it might be a hint that he is from the time of prohibition, and therefore he could be cautious in that aspect. Also he calls it "some stuff" - like it would be dangerous to call it by name out loud
"Chemicals were commonly converted into drinking alcohol during the Prohibition era, a reality of which officials were aware when approving the practice"
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/30/fact-check-u-s-government-poisoned-some-alcohol-during-prohibition/3283701001/

Comments

Very interesting answer. Thanks for trying to solve this riddle.