The sorcery club san francisco is in the grip of an economic collapse, and three clerks find themselves on the verge of starvation until one of them discovers a strange old book in a junk shop. the book dates back several hundred years, and is an account of the history of the lost civilization of atlantis and a practical guide to atlantean black magic. by means of this tome they make contact with mysterious entities, who offer them a pact - if the three of them can abstain from marriage and from quarrelling with one another for a period of time they will have a succession of powers granted to them and of they hold to this compact for the full period they will have all of those powers for the remainder of their lives. if they break the pact they must however accept the consequences.