Ultima VI: The False Prophet/Lycaeum library and Deep Forest

The Lycaeum library

Characters looking for books

(Britain)	Lord British? Old books? "Lord British treasures antiques. There is one book for which he hath offered a reward: 'The Wizard of Oz'."
(Paws)	Play? Flippits? "If only I had a copy of Snilwit's Big Book of Boardgame Strategy... Then I could find some really fine games to teach everyone."
(Deep Forest)	Interest? Payment? "If 'you' present a reasonably dense information source to a 'wisp' unit, arrangements will be made to transfer some suitably valuable commodity into Britannian possession."

Exploring the library

SNES differences

The only two books that can be borrowed from the Lycaeum library are:

• Book of Boardgames
• Book of Oz

The Lycaeum library can be divided in three areas:

• a "descent", that leads from the surface to the fourth, deepest floor;
• four "corners", accessed from the fourth floor and rising up like towers;
• a "core", accessed from the fourth floor, too, and helding the history of Britannia (i.e. the summary of the Ultima series so far).

Plan of the library.
Click to enlarge.

There are 19 books in the library that can be read and/or borrowed.

Sorting the table by Function, it can be seen that 3 books are quest items; 9 books advertise earlier games by Origin Sys.; 1 book gives more hints about a later quest; and only 6 books serve no purpose.

Book title	Location	Function
Of Dreams and Visions	Descent, f1, N	-
Tangled Tales	Descent, f3, NE	Summary of 1989 game Tangled Tales
Snilwit's Big Book of Boardgame Strategy	Descent, f1, E	Quest item: bring it to Dr. Cat in Paws
Knights of Legend, volume I	Descent, f3, SE	Summary of 1989 game Knights of Legend; background story of Seggallion (Serpent's Hold)
Crossbow Marksmanship by Iolo Fitzowen	Descent, f1, S	-
Ye Lost Art of Ballooning	Descent, f3, SW	Hints about the hot-air balloon
The Lost Book of Mantras	Descent, f1, W	Quest item: bring it to any wisp in Deep Forest
The Caverns of Freitag	Descent, f1, W	Summary of 1982 game The Caverns of Freitag by Dr. Cat; background story of Gertan (Cove)
A Treatise on the Lore of Gargoyles by Norlick the Elder	Descent, f3, NW	-
Plant Lore	Corner, f1, NW	-
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum	Corner, f1, NE	Quest item: bring it to Lord British in Britain Castle; emphasis on Truth, Love and Courage
Dilzal's Almanac of Good Advice	Corner, f1, SE	-
Windwalker	Corner, f1, SW	Summary of 1989 game Windwalker (sequel of Morpheus)
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll	Corner, f1, SW	- (false track: you need "The Wizard of Oz")
Warriors of Destiny	Core, f4	Summary of 1988 game Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny; hints about the Vortex in Stonegate
The First Age of Darkness	Core, f2	Summary of 1981 game Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness; emphasis on Mondain's Control
The Second Age of Darkness	Core, f2	Summary of 1982 game Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress; emphasis on Minax's Passion
The Third Age of Darkness	Core, f2	Summary of 1983 game Ultima III: Exodus; emphasis on Exodus' Diligence
The Quest of the Avatar	Core, f2	Summary of 1985 game Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

• NOTE: the nine video games mentioned in the Lycaeum include: 5 previous Ultima titles; 3 games released by Origin the year before Ultima 6; one game programmed by Dr. Cat before he joined Origin.

Rewards for the books

• Lord British rewards you with 20 gems for "The Wizard of Oz".
• Dr. Cat rewards you with 200 gold coins for the "Big Book of Boardgame Strategy".
• The wisps reward you for the "Book of Lost Mantras" by giving to every member of the party as many gold nuggets as each can carry; you have the option of getting information instead of "substance" (gold); such information is useful for the end of the game, but it is told in an extremely complicated language, requiring superior knowledge of physics and optics. Here is the "translation" into understandable English, line by line:

If a substance with a partially reflective surface is positioned so that its third index of refraction matches the wavelength coefficient of the output of a polarized light source, and the resulting beam is focused on an ionized crystal suspended in a unipolar magnetic field, matter can be converted into useful electromagnetic radiation at an efficiency rate of 96 to 98 percent, depending on the desired output frequency.

If a lens is properly aligned with the light going through another lens and the light beam is focused on the Vortex Cube, the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom can be turned into an image that is tangible.

Make sure you drop any unneeded item before you make the trade with the wisps. Exchange all the gold nuggets for gold coins in Britain. With all the money you can now afford the best equipment, all the magic spells and a lot of reagents!

Nicodemus the enchanter

Although Thariand is the Lord of the Stronghold of Truth (i.e. the Lycaeum), what he says is of little usefulness: the forest southeast of Yew is too thick to get through. Eckhart, from the Stronghold of Love (i.e. Empath Abbey), gives the best advice to find Nicodemus' house.

Nicodemus' hut is in the north part of this map; Lord British's throne room is in the south-west corner.
Click to enlarge.

(Empath Abbey)	Enchanter? "He lives east of here, between two rivers. His hut be due north of Britain, or so they tell me."
(Lycaeum)	Star? "All the students of Nicodemus bear this sign. He lives southeast of Yew. Somebody there should be able to give you directions."
(Yew)	Nicodemus? "Nicodemus the enchanter lives near here. His house lies between two rivers."
(Yew)	Nicodemus? "I've heard that Nicodemus the enchanter lives between two rivers."
(wanderer)	Advice? "My advice will cost you a gold coin. What do you say?" Yes? "Almost due east of Iolo's hut there lives a powerful enchanter."

You need two spells to enter Nicodemus' hut: the "Unlock magic" can be acquired from Horance; the "Dispel field" can be taught by Xiao.

Buy the most convenient blood moss from Nicodemus, for just 2 gold coins per piece. He sells about 14 spells. He also sells yew staves, but some can be found for free in dungeons. When a companion with magic points reaches level 7, the "Enchant" spell can be used to upgrade staves into new spell-casting wands (unlike in Ultima 7, where it upgrades arrows and crossbow bolts).