The last surviving fire beetle skittered away, having failed to find easy prey. It crawled back into the crack in the wall from whence it came, making chittering noises that faded away. The dead beetles' ichor-stained luminescent glands continued to glow even after death, casting light like nature's torches.<br/><br/>Now that the immediate danger was driven off, the three mounds of mold and fungus could be seen to be the rotting, near-skeletal remains of a trio of halfling (or gnome) sized people, the unfortunate fate of one of the adventuring parties, now food for vermin and fungi.<br/><br/>As for ways deeper into the caves, there was always the option of returning to the water and following it even deeper along the underground waterway. Otherwise, heading inland there was a five-foot-high ledge at the end of the beach, sporting three stalagmites at its edge. Tied around one of them and trailing down the cliffside was a length of rope, a sign that others had gone this way before.