The quest file itself for boomba should say this, minus the comments...
Code:
sub EVENT_SAY
{
if($text=~/Hail/i)
{
quest::say("Hullo!! Me is Boomba. Me make da bestest pickles in da Norrath. Me gots da dwarfies. da halflings. da humies - me even gots da pixie pickles!! Of course all of dem were baddies from da dunjuns. Da guards say it gud ta pickle da baddies.");
}
}
If this is what ya have, then something must be wrong with the perl install....
Try uninstalling it and reinstalling Perl.