Thank you for testing out the game!
A lot of the items you bring up are issues we were facing as we were developing the game. Our scope was too ambitious, so rather than developing a few systems and being able to keep things clean, there were too many systems that people could get stuck on, that were not able to be implemented which also distracted from other work that could have been done. The battle system that was originally discussed didn't get into the game. Creating the initial menu, then submenus was a lot of work that wasn't able to be utilized. The inventory system was attempted to be developed but time ran out on getting that into the game. The dialogue system also needing to be developed, which got quite a bit of functionality into it, but not everything, like making choices or being able to speed through text. Work was done an an intro scene, but not completed. Switching the characters was an idea the came mid-way through (not wanting to hog the main character status all to myself, LOL) and shouldn't be been too much work to implement, but was a lower priority and work on other systems came first. It would have likely been better for us to limit our systems and better develop them.
This was the biggest team I have worked with in a game jam, and we are all learning. Game jams give you a good idea of what you are capable of.
You can pass through the caves after the text to get to the other side and to the village.
That is just some of my thoughts, but thanks again for testing it out.