On this quest, while fighting the first spawn, I was approached by a beetle so I backed up. Whereupon, a second spawn seemed to come out of the passage behind me.

Fighting seven beetles, I died pretty much instantly. I am not sure if that ambush is suppose to happen, or if its a "last fight on the way out" that got triggered early.

Its likely an ambush, but heh, I was a sorc on the quest alone. Took one hit from behind that killed me.

It has happened to me always. I have always thought it as an ambush. I think it is rather nice, but yes, they do spawn almost on top of you. You will die if you are alone and low lvl.

Paha Poika You will die if you are alone.

Meh, I never do it alone. I mean that if your two companions kill the couple beetle more forward and you stay a bit back, they spawn on you and hit once, your dead.

This was a bug (har) and has been fixed.