Thanks, that's valuable help. I didn't know anyone to playtest the game, so this is really useful.
Hopefully those bugs are fixed now! You were definitely correct re: equipment. I was testing the game I realised it was odd to not be able to equip stuff yet. (I should also add a msg "You crafted a sword, it has been placed in storage" or something to also make that clearer.
I couldn't figure out hiring bug, though... THAT one is weird. On my local copy of the game, you can hire no problem. But I played through it on Itch and I couldn't hire anyone either (even though it was the exact same version).. very weird. Since it works locally I can't use the debugger unfortunately --- and then it magically started working again for no apparent reason... Hopefully it works on your end too!
If all else fails, a Hard Reset (from the settings menu) often fixes the weirder problems, usually stemming from a change to the objects structures. But that means losing all your hard work progress fighting all those skeletons! I've been trying to avoid resorting to that, but could be a last resort.
You are absolutely welcome to check back and provide any feedback or input, here in this post or on the game page/comments Really helps!! Thanks again for putting up with the bugs!