but I still don't get why it's a burn?
I will tell you a tale...
In the distant times, in the forgotten times that are not recorded, when Eric Noah still roamed the realms, and the boards were young and men were under the oversight of a one-legged-cat... in those days there was announced a tournament. The challengers assembled themselves for combat and were grouped. Warily they faced off against each other and there were ingredients given to them.
In one competition, the competition which is still remembered when all else is forgotten from those long-ago times, three of the ingredients given in a certain round included a ghost, a dryad, and a mast. In that round, one of the contestants deftly combined the three ingredients to craft a tale focused on the ghost of a dryad which was haunting the mast made from her tree. When the onlookers saw this offering, they were stunned and awed. The opponent quaked, fearing his time had been cut short in the games. Here, said everyone, was a masterful bit of word-work. Surely, here was a winning performance. But it was not to be. The judge was hard and as he surveyed the arena, he awarded the victory to the opponent, casting aside the dryad-haunted-ship-mast. There was an uproar. Who was this judge? How could he so render a judgment? With his head bowed, the vanquished-one waved the crowd to silence and accepted the verdict. Mostly gracefully. Only every now and then complaining that he was robbed. After all, the word of the Judge was Law, and could not be gainsayed. But still, many had doubts, and wondered whether the judge was right.
When next the tournament was called, that contest was still remembered, still talked about. The judgment still in question. And so it continues thus to this day. As the years unfold, here is the one tale from the beginning of Iron DM still remembered and still told. Let it stand as both a lesson and a warning... to all who would enter or judge IRON DM.
