"Going to have fun explaining this if anyone comes along the path..."

Sixty seconds. A hundred twenty. She's starting to feel her lungs demanding air.

One eighty. The burn to breathe is stronger but not yet overpowering. Her fingers and toes are tingling slightly. Arwen is looking concerned, like he might drop the hold.

Ame isn't going to tap out until she loses her hold on her Skill.

Arwen starts asking if she's okay at fifteen second intervals and will drop it if she doesn't confirm.

By five minutes she really needs to breathe. It's very distracting.

But is it distracting enough. Maintaining her focus under duress is probably going to be her single most valuable skill, in this world of Skills.

Ame can still nod in response to questions, though she almost loses her grip on her Skill each time she has to. Is it still getting worse?

The burning need to breathe seems to have leveled out. The tingling in her extremities is getting worse, though. She's starting to feel cold.

Yeah, this is about where it feels like all she can do is maintain her Skill, and not very well at that. She taps out.

And Arwen gratefully lets her down and gets the sheath out from around her neck, looking somewhere between thoughtful and anxious.

Okay, yeah, Ame will take a moment to heave a few desperate breaths into her lungs. Then she straightens up and closes her eyes for a moment. The red welt around her neck fades away, and her breathing steadies.

"So, that was... ten times as long as it would normally take to be incapacitated, you think?"

"Maybe even more times if it's someone who doesn't react in time to take a deep breath. You say you've never gone adventuring before? I'm trying to figure out what in the darkness gives you such a powerful Skill."

Ame shrugs, checking herself over and making sure she's thoroughly healed.

"Alright, I'm good. We ready to go?"

"I think so.

-Please don't flirt with the dungeon guards. And if they ask why you're not wearing armor, say you're doing DEX focus and armor would slow you down."

"Sure. I mean, that's not even actually a lie."

They come into view of a low hill with an elaborate stone gate, decorated with carved images of trees and other plants. A man and a woman with spears stand guard.

"Hey, Fairsol! You're that militia trainer. Arlo?"

"Arwen, actually."

"Arwen, right. I didn't think you did dungeon runs anymore."

"Today's a special case. Ameron here wanted some training, and I think level one will be a good intro. We're splitting the loot sixty-forty."

"...She's the one everyone who came in this morning was talking about? The whore-turned-adventurer?"

Arwen winces, but nods.

They glance at each other. "Well, the fees are the same as usual. Ameron, this dungeon is the property of Baroness Leonora Hargrave. You may enter it and slay the monsters there to gain experience and loot, but Our Lady takes no responsibility for damage to property, injury, or death caused by a dive. All the laws of the land up here apply in the dungeon - this is not the kind of town where adventurers are allowed to kill each other and take the other party's things. Do you understand?"

That wince probably adds an item to Ame's to-do list, but whatever.

"I understand. That's all perfectly reasonable and clear."

Arwen pays them the entry fee. "You two can go on in, then. Good luck."

And they step through the heavy stone gates.

You are in an empty room in a dungeon. A soft coating of grass covers the floor. There are exits to the north, east, south, and west. What do you do?

All else being equal, Ame will head left unless Arwen wants to take the lead.

Arwen follows her left, but pushes forward to enter the new room first, peering around carefully and ready to jump back. Nothing suddenly grabs him by the throat.

This room contains: One eerie scarecrow-looking thing and a half dozen little grass monsters!

Ame draws her new gladius and starts stepping sideways, spiraling in, trying to get the scarecrow thing between her and the grass monsters so she can kill it first.

All of the monsters rush straight towards the pair! Luckily for her plan, the scarecrow thing (Walking Stick) is faster due to its longer legs.

Arwen follows close behind her with his long halberd, saying "Covering your flanks."

Nod.

Ame bashes the Walking Stick with her shield to slow it down and then stabs it, before leaping back to keep ahead of the grass monsters.

Stabbing seems to have limited effect. A few of the twigs that make up its body are broken, but it keeps coming at her.

"Slash plant monsters, Ame!"

Right, that's obvious.

Ame kites it a bit more to give herself room, and then lunges, slashing down hard at center-mass.

It strikes at the same time Ame does, managing to scratch her slightly as she drives home a fatal blow that splits it cleanly in two. The remaining branches twitch once, then fall to the ground.

Arwen slashes at a flanking grass monster with a side-swing from his halberd. The extreme reach of the weapon means he's still not in Ame's way.

"Good!"

Ame heals the scratch without slowing down, but she's a little surrounded by the grass monsters. So she kites them directly toward the nearest wall and leaps, kicking off and flipping over them to land well clear.

She's a little surprised by how well it works. Her self-enhancement must be doing something right.

Plenty of room, now. Slash slash slash.

This gets her out of the way and in a good position to kill grass monsters, but kind of leaves Arwen in the lurch since he definitely can't do that weighed down as he is and probably couldn't even if he were naked. He's wearing armor and more or less ignores the hits the grass monsters get in, slinging the halberd on his back and drawing a short sword to slash with in a smooth and practiced motion.

Once the monsters are dead, they quickly start turning to odorless smoke. The twig monster leaves behind a hand-sized chunk of wood and one of the grass monsters leaves behind a little spool of rough-looking thread.

Arwen frowns at Ame. "We need to discuss coordination. I brought a halberd to act as your support, but with you so fast and me so slow finding a good strategy could be tricky."