I really liked the premise/lore, art, and writing with this and will be looking forward to more after the jam. I don't have much to input that hasn't already been said about the "random" encounters but the miniboss/boss felt balanced given the tools you had.
As far as ideas for how to retool the randoms, maybe there could be some kind of currency that drops that you could trade with the queen for minor stat gains or single-use "blessings" you could use like items?