Final Fantasy V Walkthrough
Written by Djibriel
Contributor
1.24: Jachol Environs
Enemies: Bomb, Doublizard, Bio Soldier, Nutkin, Skull Eater
Treasures: 
Blitz Whip, Shuriken, Tent
Blue Magic: 
Self-Destruct
Features: Piano
Don't be deceived by your gut instinct or even prior Final Fantasy knowledge; Bomb is not a Fire-elemental monster which is weak to Ice or something silly like that. All it does is attack physically and useSelf-Destruct on rare occasions. You can learn it here if you somehow missed it/couldn't retrieve it from the Motor Trap enemies in the Fire-Powered Ship.Doublizards are weak to Ice-elemental attacks, as you'll find most lizard-like and dragon-like enemies to be. They're kinda sturdy but generally unassuming. When they turn around, exactly nothing happens; all that happens is that they will use a Battle attack when they're facing you with their 'normal' face, and when the turn around to attack with their lower face (the one they don't start with, I mean...all this trouble to refrain from using the word "Ass-face" isn't worth it) they'll use !Slip, which adds the Sap status.
Bio Soldier is the strongest enemy here and has the potential to be very very dangerous. When they're with another Bio Soldier all is well, as they'll just use Battle. However, when a lone Bio Soldier is damaged, it'll counter with a
Bio spell on the entire party, dealing over 200 damage to all characters. If a Ninja or Monk hits twice and doesn't manage to kill the guy, this even means TWO Bio spells. Avoid it at all costs. Another notable feature about the Bio Soldier is its common 
Battle Axe and rare War Hammer. The former is the weakest Axe/Hammer there is and could be previously bought in Walse, but the latter is stronger than the Ogre Killer you could purchase in Jachol and might be worth going for if you like your Berserkers. Jachol's a town of adventurers, of which the armor and weapons are known throughout the world. It's a village inhabited by descendants of the ancient Ronka civilization, and many rare treasures are said to be found in the surroundings. It's a good place for us.
Armor Shop: It's fairly straightforward here. Buy
Green Berets for every character that could benefit from one (remember: Blue and Red Mages also can equip it, so if you are planning on using either one on a Magic character, you could want to buy these for them). 
Ninja Suits for every Heavy Armor and Clothes class character, and Sage's Surplice for the Magic characters. They're not as good as Gaia Gear on the defenses, so you shouldn't buy them for characters that already have Gaia Gear. Sage's Surplice grant immunity to the Silence status, which is a nice feature for spellcasters on paper. Enemies will hardly ever try to Silence you, though.Weapon Shop: Quite a few new and powerful weapons, but most of them are fairly redundant. The
Ogre Killer is stronger than any Mythril Hammer you might wield, but both the War Hammer (rare steal from the Bio Soldier which roams near Jachol) and the Death Sickle are stronger so you might not even want to spend your money here if you do utilize Berserkers. Note how it says it's effective against giants - there are no giants in this game! The 
Coral Sword is simply a stronger sword for everybody who uses swords. It's Lightning-elemental too. The 
Mage Masher is a weapon you should have in abundance by now, but buy them for appropriate characters if you don't. The 
Trident is a Lightning-elemental Spear, but without any Job to equip it there's no point. The 
Ashura is still the best weapon you could hope to wield at this point, but again, it's not worth switching to Freelancer for. The 
Silver Bow, finally, is a fairly crappy Two-Handed Back Row weapon that no Job of yours can equip.Magic Shop: Missed any White spells in Karnak? You can buy them here.
Item Shop: Well, you know. Same old.
The Pub houses several NPC's all talking about the Cave of Jachol to the north. That's very interesting. There's a piano on the stage, which you should totally play. Also, you can dance with the lady, but the subsequent scene is so mind-numbingly stupid it just might wake you up from this dreamworld and make you realize you're playing a game again. So don't.
There's very little to do in this town besides gathering up stuff for the Cave, so let's go to the Cave. I hear there's treasure. It's handy to have some Phoenix Downs handy; the monsters in the Cave of Jachol might decide to randomly kill characters and you want to be prepared.
Welcome to the Cave of Jachol. Here's what's going down. There are a few treasures here, and random encounters of the bizarre kind. They're either Nutkins (those Regen-squirrels you met around the Wind Shrine at the very start of the game) and Skull Eaters. Concerning the latter, you either destroy them with the very limited range of attacks capable of destroying them, or you'll probably die hoping for them to use Flee rather than 1600-damage dealing physicals.
The Nutkins pose no threat whatsoever. !Kick is very efficient at dealing with them in a single attack as it costs no MP. Whatever-you-have also works. The Skull Eaters are an entirely different story. They have exactly 1 HP, but their defenses are both 90, meaning they're almost impenetrable. They will 'counter' any Magic spell they survive by summoning five other Skull Eaters around them, effectively spelling your doom. Physically, they're incredibly powerful; their Special !Front Teeth is both barrier-piercing and unblockable and will deal around 1600 damage to a Front Row character. Undeniably the best way to deal with them is using !Gaia. It'll either summon a Stalactite attack which kills the Skull Eater (it's a very powerful attack) or use Ignus Fatuus, which will confuse it sometimes. With Fire element up, it may even kill it. If it uses !Front Teeth on itself, it's dead. If not, it's Battle, re-directing Skull Eaters attention to you without dealing any damage. Try again! Note that you won't get a listing from a Skull Eater in your Bestiary until you actually kill one. Also note that the Cave of Jachol is somewhat of an ABP goldmine, since the Skull Eaters give 5 ABP and you'll see them often. This could be a good time to learn, say, the Beastmaster's !Control.
The skull switch next to the entrance does nothing now and is only meant to open the entrance if you want to back-track. Pressing the other skull switch pushes back a large rock wall, freeing the path to a line-up of skull switches. Once you reach it, you could go pressing skull switches like some kind of moron, but that's not the way to go. Simply wait, and eventually the 'true' skull switch will be the only one not to disappear. Quickly press it before the other ones come back (making the skull switch ineffective) and another path opens. The door here won't open, but there's a button in the opened chest next to it to open it.
Ugh, another opened chest even in this new room. However, all other chests contain items! There's a Shuriken and a Tent in the two chests you can easily reach to the left. Walk around to the third (and final) chest, and you may be able to open it for a
Blitz Whip, but only if you haven't released Lone Wolf back in Walse Castle. If you have, the treasure will be gone.The
Blitz Whip has a 33% chance of casting Thunder (it's a non-elemental weapon by itself) so it won't paralyze creatures like the normal Whip did. Still Back Row OK like all whips, and it's Battle Power equals that of the Ashura (though damage output will be lower due to the Ashura's critical hits). A Beastmaster with Barehanded and the Blitz Whip could stand to do worse.This is all. You can climb out of the north wall to enter the Overworld Map (possibly to use a Tent or to Save). Simply track back by logical means. You have no business in Jachol either anymore, so let's get back on the Fire-Powered Ship!
Now, sail to the south-west until you've gone around the continent and continue up north until you come across some grasslands with a town near a river on it. It's Istory, town of waterfalls, another summon beast and a new Black spell!
Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy V
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.