Monsters
There are four main Monsters at the moment. They can appear whenever you do actions within your kingdom. I have outlined some basic information about each.
Skunkupines
Skunkupines are the first Monsters that you will encounter. You will need a Wooden Sword (from the Workshop) to defeat them. They have 3 health and can drop Rat Tails, Fur and Creep Teeth. They tend to appear when you are harvesting crops or tending plants. They really like corn, wheat and sugar.
Fangbeast
You will need a Meat Cleaver (from the Kitchen) to defeat these. They have 5 health and can drop Bones, Creep Teeth and Fur. They tend to appear around Farmhouses, Animal Buildings and when collecting from animals.
Glimmer Troll
These will only appear after you are level 15 and have crafted the Enchanted Sword. They have 7 health and can drop Troll Essence, Troll Horns, Glimmerdust, Mysterious Venom and Bones. They tend to appear around coin buildings, resource buildings (not really animal ones) and mushrooms.
Lovecupines
These are only triggered when collecting from valentine animals, plants and buildings. They drop rat tails and pink fur.
Troll King
This is a one time only monster that appears when you expand to the Troll King's Lair (see the guides from the first post for more information). He has 99 health. He drops Jewels, Troll Essence, Troll Horns and money from time to time when you attack him. When you defeat him he also drops Spicy Feast and Big Ruby.
Fighting Monsters
When monsters appear you will notice a grey cloud around them. This is their area of influence. You will not be able to interact with any object that appears in this cloud.
To fight monsters you need to tap on them. The first tap will show their health (eg 3/3) and bring up three sword swing options at the bottom. Click on a sword swing to use it. Usually this will reduce their health by 1. Sometimes you will be lucky and take 2 from their health. When their health reaches 0 they will disappear from your kingdom.
Each sword swing that you do takes 1 energy. There is also a chance that you will get some energy back for each hit you do. At the end of the fight you will also get back some energy. If you have been very lucky you will end up with more energy than you used to fight the monster.
Tips
If you are getting sick of monsters appearing around your kingdom you can set a trap. Choose an area that is away from most of your items. Have something like a well, a few crops or animals, or a farmhouse there. If you get a monster when collecting from there do not fight the monster. As long as you have 1 monster in your kingdom no more can appear. Use this strategy with caution as you need monster drops for different recipes and some quests are only triggered by certain monsters (eg after Thurston is dressed you need to see a skunkupine).
If a monster appears and it looks like they might be in an area where you have not expanded there are a few things you can try. First zoom in as close as you can and keep tapping on the monster. You might be able to get some tips in. If that doesn't work force close your game (shut it down so it's not running in the background) and then restart. When you go back into your game the monster should be gone. If that doesn't work try deleting and reinstalling. Your final option is to email support@teamlava.com with your ID, game and what the issue is.