The 47 Ronin v1.3 (c#1A72A6.fdr - Whoa is (Not)

74.
Now we round a bend in the tunnel and enter Hell’s Foundry --
an awesome chamber of stalactites and stalagmites where an
army of ONI (fierce Japanese demons) work iron into steel
using bubbling calderas of lava as their furnace.
ONE-ARMED AINU (VO) (CONT’D)
Down there in the dark, they used
the earth as their forge. With no
sun to tell the time, the
swordmakers worked relentlessly,
day and night, caring only for
their craft, their bodies changing,
becoming muscled from the hammer,
their skin baked red as kiln bricks
from the unending heat, their eyes
seared milky white from staring at
the glow of molten metal.
CLOSE IN on the largest of the Oni as he pulls a GIGANTIC
BLADE from a lava pot. It glows cherry red as he places it
on an iron deposit and raises a MASSIVE HAMMER to shape it--
ONE-ARMED AINU (VO) (CONT’D)
(beat)
But all that mattered was the
sword.
The Oni SMASHES the hammer down with the force of a god.
CLAAAANGG! An EXPLOSION OF SPARKS burst from the metal, and
we --
MATCH BACK TO:
THE BRAZIER (INT. TAVERN) - CONTINUOUS
-- as the Ainu pokes the coals and sparks fly.
The tale has spellbound Oishi’s men. All except Isogai, who
rolls his eyes at the theatrics.
ONE-ARMED AINU
The price for the blades is twofold.
The first is your silence.
If the Emperor were to discover the
swordmakers, he would claim them
and the art would be lost forever.
OISHI
And what is the second?
ONE-ARMED AINU
Gold. Fifty kobans apiece.
Everyone reacts. Shocked. Outraged. Isogai physically
stumbles back from the figure.