After several years apart, many things had changed. For example, he could no longer find a single one of his Viking Berserkers, and Korgan had somehow become friends with Philip. In Solam's memory, Philip might have been a little promiscuous, but from every other angle, he was the model of a gentleman. Though he had a rather strong artistic streak, he was polite, humble, and well-mannered. It was hard to associate him with a roughneck like Korgan.
Solam had simply failed to see what was right in front of him. Korgan was indeed always cursing, unkempt, and reeking of alcohol, but was Solam himself really that much better? If Philip could be friends with him, what was so unacceptable about being friends with Korgan?
Old friends meeting again after years apart naturally had to raise their cups and drink, while catching up on each other's experiences over the past few years.
There was not much to say about Korgan and Philip's experiences. At first, they had both wandered the continent alone. Philip searched for traces of Solam and Alfred, while Korgan returned to the lifestyle he had led before meeting Solam. Every day, he went to the Adventurers' Guild or certain underground guilds to take on jobs, killing people and monsters. Then he took the bounty money to drink and gamble. Once he had spent it all, he went back to killing people and monsters for more bounties, repeating the cycle over and over.
It might have looked boring and decadent, but Korgan liked it that way. If one day he started yearning for a stable, ordinary life, that would mean he was about to croak. When dwarves neared the end of their lives, they generally found their own burial places—usually in the mine where they had been born—then