diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-database/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-database/action.yml
index f3c8598849..3bfce31d1b 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-database/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-database/action.yml
@@ -43,9 +43,14 @@ runs:
         echo "MySQL is ready"
       shell: bash
 
-    - name: Set up MySQL Privileges
+    - name: Set up MySQL Privileges and Character Set
       if: ${{ inputs.database == 'mysql' }}
       run: |
+        # Set global character set and collation
+        mysql -u root -proot_password -h 127.0.0.1 mysql <<EOF
+          SET GLOBAL character_set_server = 'utf8mb4';
+          SET GLOBAL collation_server = 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci';
+        EOF
         # Ensure user exists and has proper privileges
         mysql -u root -proot_password -h 127.0.0.1 mysql <<EOF
           CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'evennia'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
@@ -53,6 +58,10 @@ runs:
           GRANT PROCESS ON *.* TO 'evennia'@'%';
           FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
         EOF
+        # Set database character set
+        mysql -u root -proot_password -h 127.0.0.1 evennia <<EOF
+          ALTER DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+        EOF
       shell: bash
 
     # get logs from db start
diff --git a/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml b/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
index 51fb6f8018..eaa66397a7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
           - python-version: "3.11"
             coverage-test: true
 
-    timeout-minutes: 35
+    timeout-minutes: 10
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -71,8 +71,6 @@ jobs:
           --health-interval=10s
           --health-timeout=5s
           --health-retries=3
-          --character-set-server=utf8mb4
-          --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4