Is bradeline's well an infinite baddie spawn?

[Higher Game]

I made the mistake of investigating it with 3 warriors at once, unleashing a dozen high level monsters. Did I get really unlucky? Should I have used them one at a time? Or, does it just become a meat grinder after the sage is removed?

[Emptiness]

The Well does not spawn infinitely. Like other named 'dungeons', it will be removed when a good result occurs. Until then, you'll generally get named monsters with support spawning. It is possible to have several waves of baddies, but eventually a good result will occur and the 'dungeon' will go away. It is also possible to have the good result as the first result, and so never see any baddies at all.

Originally Posted by Higher Game

I made the mistake of investigating it with 3 warriors at once, unleashing a dozen high level monsters. Did I get really unlucky?

Not particularly. Named 'dungeons' tend to spawn nasty things. I would bring more than 3 Warriors to explore just a generic dungeon.

Originally Posted by Higher Game

Should I have used them one at a time?

Yes, although you probably should also have brought more and better units.

Originally Posted by Higher Game

Or, does it just become a meat grinder after the sage is removed?

What sage?

[Higher Game]

I've gotten a sage from it before; I was hoping for an early sage. I was just shocked that the "enemies defend the lair" fired 3x on the same turn because I investigated with all 3 warriors. I was just wondering if the RNG was set to that result for that turn, and no amount of warriors would have finished it.

I have seen it spawn tigers before, so I was also thinking of holding onto it for some hunting.

[mcwill123]

Higher Game, you do know that those major dungeons can easily spawn very very bad nasties, right?

[Azhral]

Oh yeah, keep popping the thing till you get a Wraith or an Eidolon with the Strong promo, both barb who will then proceed to annihilate your empire. Great fun!

[Emptiness]

Originally Posted by Higher Game

I've gotten a sage from it before; I was hoping for an early sage. I was just shocked that the "enemies defend the lair" fired 3x on the same turn because I investigated with all 3 warriors. I was just wondering if the RNG was set to that result for that turn, and no amount of warriors would have finished it.

A Great Sage is certainly one possible good result, but it is by no means guaranteed. Although an initial good result is possible, there will usually be at least one bad result first - which means a tough foe to defeat. Even if you get a lucky good result on your first try it will not always be a Great Sage. Any other good lair result is also possible. Exploring named 'dungeons' in the hope of getting a specific good result on the first try will almost always result in disappointment.

As for the three simultaneous explorations, I don't know how that works. If it is working correctly then each exploration should be rolling separately for a result, in sequence. However, I've never tested simultaneous exploration to confirm that it is working as intended. Even with a strong force, and even if it was working correctly, simultaneous exploration would be risky. It is certainly possible to get three consecutive bad results from a named 'dungeon' from three consecutive explorations (in fact, I wouldn't even call that rare). I would recommend always conducting exploration one at a time, because in that way you at least have the option to decide when to stop exploring. Simultaneous explorations give you no choice.

[apenpaap]

Exploring Epic Dungeons with just three warriors is a gloriously bad idea. Here's the stuff I generally bring to explore lairs:
Burrow/Graveyard: Scout or Warrior
Ruins/the other lair I can't recall the name of right now: a few tier 2 or 3 units, preferably high-level.
Dungeon: A stack of tier 2 or 3 units or a hero.
Epic Dungeon: Hero

[FireBlaze]

Well, if you could spare 10 warriors, all you would have to do is surround it, then explore until you get a good result.

[Higher Game]

I would never explore with a hero that could get diseased or rusted from it.

[MagisterCultuum]

Diseased and rusted are pretty easy to fix, even for heroes. Crazed, Enraged, and Demon are worse promotions to get (the latter especially right before Glory Everlasting).

[FireBlaze]

Can Sphener get demon from a dungeon?

[MagisterCultuum]

No, that particular result can only happen to living units. The same goes for Crazed, Enraged, Diseased, Plagued, Poisoned, and Withered.

[Azhral]

My Losha Valas got Demon once. Was awesome, managed to kill 2 out of the 4 horsemen by herself (immune to Poison, Death, Unholy) and injured the other two enough to finish off with another Vampire. She of course survived all of this thanks to Immortal.

[PacoDeth]

yeah, I had a particularly fun game once with the Bradeline's Well. I waited till pretty late game to start playing with it, got 4 Wizards with Divination 3 and Sphener with high Command over near it. 7 times in a row it spawned groups of nice baddies, all of which I stole. I got some neat hero units out of it, some animals, and I think a few werewolves. It's a very nice unit-milking tile if you have units with a high level of Command or Divination 3 Wizards. You can milk it for XP, but I think thats a waste.

As for early game, I probably wouldn't toy with the Well unless I had about 12 warriors sitting around on a stack to "hopefully" deal with the nasties that pop out. But of course they could just ignore your stack and just go straight to destroying your cities. Bear in mind, there are some nasty groups that can spawn out of this, think 8 Strength Ogres and 7 Strength Assassins in groups of 2-4. This is NOT a early game tile to explore, unless you want to cheat and keep reloading till you get a fun result, but that will only result in pissing off Acheron and making him spawn in your capital for being such a lying cheating tool..... or so I've heard.