3 — The Endless Wood

The sub-chapter where Relics stop being a novelty and start being a problem — the wiki's advice is to bring Slapstick Cats or a strong generalist Uber from here on.

Only a modest step up from Here Be Dragons on paper, but some stages are genuinely tricky, and this is the point where the wiki starts recommending insurance: Slapstick Cats or a good anti-everything Uber Rare, because Relics are becoming real threats rather than curiosities.

The new face is Sir Rel — Squire Rel's Relic variant with guaranteed Curse, exceptional speed and DPS, and high health for a peon. His weaknesses are the classic rusher set: single-target attacks and easy knockback. He also drops even less money than Squire Rel, which matters in a saga where Relic stages already run cash-poor. The sub-chapter closes at John Gool.