Looking for a monster...

I tend to neglect the story that I'm working on almost as much as I neglect this blog. Or rather, I'd say it gets even more neglected. Because I can come on here and ramble about nothing but I actually have to be eloquent and productive on my story. I happen to really like it, so I want it to be good. Unfortunately, that means that we spend a lot of time apart. My expectations for it are just too high to meet on a regular basis I guess. I realize that this isn't a good way to go about working on a story, but I don't seem to be able to convince myself to just write and not care.

But anyway.

It's gotten to a point where I feel like I need some more action. Haven't had any since pretty near the beginning. So I figure my party ought to run into a monster or two while wandering in the woods. So I need a monster for them to run into. Nothing too bad, as the main characters are just learning how to fight with staves, but enough that there'll be an interesting battle scene. There have been a lot of talking scenes lately and it is most definitely time to break up the monotony. Unfortunately, the only thing I have in my head are Spidrens, which is a complete and utter copy of Tamora Pierce's book Wild Magic, wherein Daine and Onua encounter a group of Spidrens while they're on their way back to Corus. I'm not trying to be "OMG SO TOTALLY ORIGINAL!!" but I don't want this to copy the flow of action scene for scene from my favorite YA books.

So. A different monster. One that's about on level with the Spidrens in that it's totally scary to encounter if you're not used to the fantastic but it is also possible for some experienced fighters to dispatch without a huge amount of strain. I'm kind of thinking that the girls will end up hiding behind a rock or something though. I'm going for a bit of realism here, in that you do not become a master fighter in a week while you are also traveling most of the day.

Oh, and spiders aren't entirely bad in this story... in fact, the whole point of the quest is to try to save some incorporeal spiders from some unknown force.... but that's neither here nor there. THE POINT IS I need a monster.

EDIT: This is not the kind of monster I'm looking for at all.

But I totally need to make these now!!