The Lucy screen bug has been reported and I'll have that fixed soon. It's a sequence break thing, sorry about that.
The Dryad is very much intended to be a midgame thing, I just made her easier for earlier builds. The game's main story will take about a year to go through, so having her get hired in late fall is fine. The current built fills up the early game with the other two companions. The exact balance will be tweaked over time, so nothing is set in stone yet.
Potions in combat are just... not great right now. I've got some ideas on making them better. I'm doing a potion pass soon tied in with Ellie and her skill tree, so it'll probably get fixed sooner rather than later.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!