Narrative Telephone: A Florid Floral Fable

[@toni_275]

As a non native english-speaker, Matt's story killed my whole family and threw me under a bridge.

[@LexSchilperoord]

As a non-native speaker, you'll get there

[@toni_275]

@@LexSchilperoord thanks! the beauty of this episode is that, after Ashley, I understand all the vocab, but the plot is gone haha

[@LexSchilperoord]

@@toni_275 It definitely also helped to hear Matt again, filling in any gaps I might've glanced over. He really does pack a lot of info into one sentence with the way the story was structured

[@vitorgabrielvg]

It felt like having a stroke 😅 lol, guess I need to read/study more...

[@toni_275]

@@LexSchilperoord you're right. and I think even some of the cast admitted they didnt really get the story, so us internationals dont need to feel bad xD

[@elfbreath]

Matt's version is how Artagan tells the story to a bunch of laughing tavern patrons, Taliesin's version is how Artagan tells the story to the authorities. 🤣

[@kohakuaiko]

This is soooooooooo true

[@aduiel]

Underrated comment! 😄

[@amandawray08]

Ashley Johnson is so beautiful in her role as "deer in the headlights"

[@IceMetalPunk]

Faun* in the headlights 😁

[@amandawray08]

@@IceMetalPunk lol. True! I'm kinda mad I didn't think of that!

[@DarkParagon]

You could have stopped at the first 5 words and it'd still be true. 😊

[@balaclavabob001]

Reducing Matt's truely epic perfomance into " ooo , me balls " is peak CR lol

[@IceMetalPunk]

*Hand gestures of Grog kicking in the pool*

[@marinedalek]

I love how Ashley's approach to this is "frantically rewrite the Wikipedia article in my own words two minutes before the assignment is due"

[@survivorellie]

And even after hearing it several times by her turn, she did so much better than I would have. I would have started crying lmao 😭

[@HumbleDuckM9]

😂

[@pyronical]

I can't believe how well Travis did, I was lost after 20 seconds listening to Matt.

[@operative2136]

Seriously, I was actually really impressed. He managed to recall a shocking amount of detail for a single listen.

[@DuelaDent52]

Travis is always the best when it comes to remembering what happened.

[@patrickshores4118]

Travis may play a Himbo a lot, but there is a reason he's the CEO. Lol

[@ApenasUmLF]

Marisha: That was 2 minutes, but felt like 2 hours. Matt: I hear that a lot 😏 Hahahaha

[@marjams21]

@@ApenasUmLF Man I was so sad no one else picked up on that

[@SoulenaRose]

lol wonder who ELSE he hears it from xD

[@allisond4359]

Laura recovering the lost detail that Artagan was responsible based on pure instinct/cleric-patron connection was magical to witness.

[@thomaspower3907]

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEACON EXCLUSIVE, MY DAY HAS BEEN MADE 🥹🥹🥹

[@KaylayaKasintaya]

They will be putting them on YT on the 30th of the month!

[@lucasxfiuza]

ME TOO!!!

[@thomaspower3907]

@@KaylayaKasintaya really!? This is the greatest news possible, thank you

[@KaelleB]

Beacon gets them 3 weeks before everyone else, but they will always publish them on KZbin!

[@iceman3317]

Yeah Crit Role isn't the ones to post things that used to be KZbin and just put them on Becon to make people pay. Unless it is something brand new or something like the cool down after each Campaign episode, I doubt they will abandon KZbin.

[@kuraisaurus]

Matt came out of the gate SWINGING with all the alliteration 😂

[@lanteanboy]

Matthew, the Demon, Mercer

[@seaborgium919]

@@lanteanboy Matthew *The Menace* Mercer.

[@LucasFerreira-ov5jc]

This is his revenge for season 1, where he came on ep1 all smooth and easy just to get bashed with taliesin's monstrosity

[@rexhex3700]

Mathew Merciless Mercer

[@KBTibbs]

Swinging an AXE.

[@rebeccagiraffe225]

1. never clicked so fast, very excited 2. neither matt nor travis said the name artagan, but the voice was good from matt and travis for it to become a key detail

[@Peter_Cordes]

More like, a later person who can't do a clearly-recognizable Artgan voice will just say they're Artagan, and from then on it sticks. It wasn't just the voice either; being release from the Fey realm by Vox Machina and then playing pranks on people also pretty clearly IDs him as Artagan, in case you weren't sure from the voice. But as details start to get lost, saying the narrator's name becomes more and more useful and necessary.

[@mundo1998]

Matt mercer saying "poppy-plauged pereneum" was NOT on the 2024 bingo

[@josephbeaulieu1569]

Revenge for the taint flowers in campaign 3

[@sagan8851]

pretty sure he also said taint in it 😂

[@Ashtarte3D]

If it was I'd be very worried about you.

[@KevThrawn85]

Our favorite blue flower returns! LMAO

[@spaceman9599]

Ah, he is getting them back for the Gooch Flower arc from ep 67/68 :) Revenge is sweet!

[@Sootielove]

"And his balls turned into flowers... Maybe I did that, I don't know."

[@canadiankazz]

😂😂

[@WiseSageBum]

Artagan after a few drinks 😂

[@MravacKid]

Ashley's crown as the Telephone Destroyer is unblemished. :D

[@dragonfire5000]

So happy to see Narrative Telephone return! I'd especially love to see how Brennan fares in this.

[@Cdog923]

@@dragonfire5000 Oh goodness, I didn't know I needed Brennan doing Narrative Telephone

[@mrbushi1062]

BROOOO you be onto something!!

[@ecotix]

I need him to set a prompt and also be a player, I want to see the shenanigans he has the cast repeat but also how well they would do!

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

@@ecotix Agreed, we absolutely need both!

[@spaceman9599]

That would be perfect overkill for Halloween, he scares me enough as it is on normal days!

[@deathbykonami5487]

This is Matt's response to Liam's Zemnian Schadenfreude and Taliesin's literary maze where every word starts with the letter C.

[@ekiess]

I just wish I could hear their commentary better. That's what really made it for me on the previous nerative telephone episodes.

[@piquantement]

Yeah, I can't understand it, and the captions don't work well for that either, you get a confusing mix of story and bits of commentary

[@everettewebber5680]

Yeah the commentary is very quiet

[@leandraleo281]

I wish it was stereo split between left and right speakers lol

[@martophrenia]

Travis worked as a translator to me in this one

[@anirac1506]

I actually understood the story better when Travis told it than whatever Matt was saying!😂

[@PerMortensen]

Same. With Matt's my brain focused on the alliteration and processed like 15% of the actual narrative. Travis' slower pace and simplified structure made it much easier to understand what's going on.

[@AckageHSC]

Same

[@sarajamesaerial]

Yes and even more so with Sam's version for me!

[@JD2jr.]

And I mean, Tal's was pretty straightforward. lol

[@romanpavlyutin9476]

Man, I didn’t expect this to make me emotional. During the pandemic, when the show first aired, I was in a different country, completely different situation to where I am now, had different worries. The music alone really took me back and made me relive those moments, reminisce those times, wow. On one hand it feels like it wasn’t that long ago, but at lot can change in 4 years. Crazy that seemingly little things can cause such a reaction

[@SoulenaRose]

(hug)

[@kpny8484]

I think I preferred it when everyone tells the story, then it plays back with everyone seeing what everyone else did. It lets you hear what they're saying about it more without trying to listen to both sides at the same time.

[@Bgant1984]

I like how Ashley is telling the story in a way that reminds me of my dreams where things just happen and make no sense

[@kayleewitmer3818]

Ok i gotta say, i love narrative telphone. Love everything these guys do. But i just am having a hard time getting into it cuz its hard to hear the cast. I enjoyed the previous set up, so we could hear a round of botht he video and the commentary. Part of the charm was the jabs they take at eachother, and i felt i kinda missed that. could be the tv i have i guess :P Sorry to criticize, just felt i missed things i couldnt hear.

[@saulmighty]

Yeah, I wonder why they had to change the formula. Instead of one hour of content we get a condensed, less fun 30 minute version compared to the originals.

[@homeless0alien]

I dont mind loosing the up-front versions because I always skipped those since it was more fun reacting alongside the cast imo, but your 100% right the volume is REALLY low on the cast and its so hard to hear them which is a shame cause i love this show.

[@kayleewitmer3818]

@ honestly I agree, the second half was always better, but still enjoyed being able to see and hear what they say before the commentary

[@SoulenaRose]

Subtitles

[@homeless0alien]

@@SoulenaRose I had subtitles on and it absolutely does not. About half the stuff the cast says isn't subtitled and on top of that the subtitles are mixed between the recording and the full cast. Not a solution I'm afraid

[@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria]

Matt has absolutely no chill in this one

[@r.f.switch5847]

And now that we're in the studio, we can see Marisha's cheeks reddening as she looks at her husband,

[@spaceman9599]

No Chill Matt is a delight.

[@z34567890123456]

He went first last time and gave everyone a pretty easy story and then progressively everyone upped the complexity and started making things WAY harder. So he came out swinging 😂

[@gleesonconor]

We are so back baby!

[@spacecowboyeddie6803]

As glad as I am this is back, they changed the format in an unfavourable way. I wish they would go back to the old format where we hear everyone’s isolated narrative renditions first, so we can clearly hear/process what they got wrong/right, THEN we see the cast’s reactions to those renditions after so we can focus on the commentary. The sound mixing for this was rough. The narrative renditions are really loud, and the cast commentary is too quiet. In order to somewhat clearly hear the commentary I had to turn up the sound which then made the renditions too loud and painful for my ears. Also, because of this and the format change, I couldn’t properly focus on either the renditions or the commentary. My ADHD was going crazy! Please consider changing it back to the old format, and adjusting the sound accordingly. I only say all this cos I used to love Narrative Telephone, and this impaired my enjoyment a lot.

[@saulmighty]

They're trying to cram a one hour episode into 30 something minutes for some reason, I wonder why?

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

I hope the Beacon members will offer some constructive criticism on this resulting this to return to the old format where we first get to see the videos and THEN the reaction.

[@saulmighty]

@@Quotenwagnerianer Yeah, I wonder why they're kind of self-spoiling the episode and the payoff for the viewers by doing this simultaneous commentary.

[@HomeSchooledWizard]

There has been mentions of people wanting the old format and Marisha mentioned changing up the editing if people prefer the other way. So next episode they might go back to the other formatting . No guarantee but there’s been talks on the discord

[@CelilasArt]

@@spacecowboyeddie6803 there are quite a few comments where people say they always skip the beginning. but my adhd brain (that also loves storytelling) is completely overwhelmed by that mishmash of information. it's both missing the fun stories and the fun commentary. it's now a chore listening to it instead of something enjoyable :(( in the old format, people could skip. but in the new format, the adhd & blind crowd etc. can't do anything to make the content more accessible. maybe they could upload a condensed *and* an extended version if skipping is too much work for half of their audience? 💕

[@SessVlogs]

I'm so happy this is back, but I really hope it goes back to the old format of playing everyone's stories and _then_ having the reactions. I just can't concentrate on both at the same time 😭

[@Candlesticksify]

Yeah same, I couldn't hear the commentary of the cast and that's my favorite part!

[@saulmighty]

Agree, If there weren't subtitles it would've been impossible for me, as a non-native English speaker

[@JohnVanderbeck]

That's why you rewatch it :D

[@SessVlogs]

@@JohnVanderbeck How is rewatching it going to help?

[@CelilasArt]

@@JohnVanderbeck it doesn't help, my brain can't process both. and the story video is loud that so much of the cast's commentary is getting lost. and not everything is subtitled either.

[@Thyeggman]

So glad Narrative telephone is back I would still like to have the old format where we get one run-through with no commentary and then one run-through with commentary, it's a bit hard to appreciate everything thrown at us all at once

[@treasurecrafts2065]

Same. I couldn’t hear the cast because the video was so loud.

[@TakeWalker]

thirded!

[@Coleth.3]

Agreed, the sound was very disorienting and I couldn't focus on the story retelling and their reactions all at the same time.

[@saulmighty]

Agree, the payoff for us viewers always was to see what they all thought of the first story but that's kind of ruined now that they all can react to that from the beginning. I wonder what the reason was to condense the show this way?

[@natalief2508]

agree, i was waiting to see if the youtube version would do that but it's just too hard to listen to everyone at once

[@DantheBigMan77]

Matt seems to have taken all the previous styles of storytelling, especially Taliesin's 'Clay family story'. Also, welcome back, Narrative Telephone!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@r.f.switch5847]

They're all doomed. Matt learned from the God of Darkness himself.

[@jarmuzz]

Finally it's back. Side note this is Matt's revenge for them laughing at all his NPCs name

[@bmal7173]

Am I the only one sad they took out showing them all in one go? :( Loved seeing it go through uninterrupted, then getting the commentary after

[@Aetheria60]

Nope. I'm right there with you. I like hearing the originals.

[@homeless0alien]

I always skipped the first viewing and I think many did so thats why they adapted the format. Im more sad about how quiet the cast are compared to the video because I can hardly hear them reacting and its the funniest part!

[@bmal7173]

@@homeless0alien idk I feel like both things are true, you obviously can’t hear both at once so might as well make both options available

[@RoboticYeti]

Agree I found it much easier to follow that way! Like I could hear all of their versions and then just relax and hear their reactions to it instead of trying to hear both at once. Which was hard to do anyway because the cast was so quiet (I’m glad it’s quiet in this format but in the other format they didn’t NEED to be quiet). And then if anyone doesn’t want that part they can just skip it. Maybe they could post the clean versions as a separate video if they’re afraid it would hurt the algorithm?? Regardless so happy it’s back!! Obsessed with this series

[@ErixTheRed]

I'd love to see one backwards sometime, Memento style.

[@jackakimbo5718]

Ashley doing these is just pure serotonin

[@trainerred9393]

Great return episode! I just hope the audio of the cast bantering be a little bit louder than the performance. The cast poking fun at each others is the true joy of narrative telephone, for me at least.

[@princemills6022]

When Travis opens the vid with a deep sigh ... You know we back back 😆😆 But then I listen to what they had to retell - and I agree, Travis " ...it's not something a friend does. It's not nice..."

[@MsKornkitty]

Chaucerian wit and ridiculous amounts of alliteration. Setting them up to fail, eh Matt?

[@CriticalNerds]

One of the best things to come out of Covid were these. So great to have them again :D

[@Enn-]

I adore Ashley's honest and real acceptance. She inspires me to make peace with the way my own brain works (or fails to work) at times.

[@justiineniicole]

hoping we go back to the old format for next one, where we get the clean versions of the stories first before cast reactions! The old Narrative Telephone eps are some of my most rewatched CR content!

[@a222l5]

This. I want a chance to savor the hilarity of hearing the retelling myself, before layering in the enjoyment of seeing the cast react, that's part of the magic!

[@spacechickenawareness]

“Robin Williams noises” is the best caption I’ve seen in a while 😂

[@MefistoNH]

Love it when Ashley inevitably gets overwhelmed

[@lildarth8340]

Oh gosh, so glad its back but i miss the old format! Its so hard to concentrate on the retelling and the reactions at the same time 😢

[@saulmighty]

Yep, it's one hour of content condensed to 30 minutes or so but for what benefit?

[@lildarth8340]

@saulmighty They may have just wanted to try something different. Maybe lots of people skipped over that first part and went straight to reactions

[@mld-Drake]

Matt, you're a freaking monster with this story WTF

[@Layla-z6e]

If there is any way to go back to the old format, I would really appreciate it! With the old format, we could hear each rendition clearly and we could hear the cast reactions fully as the volume on the videos was turned down the second time it played. Thank you!

[@battlemercy5153]

Legitimately this show brings so much light into my life. I love Critical Role and all of the content they make but Narrative Telephone hits home for me in a way I cannot describe. Maybe it's because it shows a more personal side of the cast members and reminds me that real true friendship and goodness exists in the real world too. ❤ Thank you for bringing this show back.

[@drAgonheart580]

nothing has changed, this group can take the train of its tracks in 0,000005 milli seconds.... and WE LOVE YOU FOR IT

[@Jplays23]

So we started with a tale of pranking grog, walked it through first a dont play with your....... through to a psa about washing your nethers. Oh and petunias. Ive missed this show 😂😂

[@sharonbi556]

Those recurring callbacks to Ashley's "I'm Grog Stonejaw" from Narrative Telephone season 1 bring me absolute joy, both here and when Bell's Hells met Grog for the first time. I have a feeling that this gift will keep on giving :)

[@micahcreator7014]

ANOTHER ONE!? We have been blessed!

[@dewandrop4064]

Missed this. This was so good!!! Only downside is now that everyone's together in the studio we won't get moments like Q in the background with the creepy mannequin. Byeah, super excited for the rest of Narrative Telephone.

[@Foxxology]

matt.... you really wrapped your baseball bat with poisoned barbwire. i salute to you good sir

[@Brazbit]

Ashley appeared and ascended as an apex alliteration assassin.

[@seven-cats-3]

an alliteration annihilator, one could argue

[@maengo4]

I missed Narrative Telephone so much!! I don’t have to rewatch episodes anymore🥳

[@TyrannoLime]

I love that by the end, [spoilers] the “prank” instead just became a side effect of having sex too soon after bathing, which is a divine curse that can only be stopped by Sex-positive clerics who were in a nearby brothel- and all of this is an ad to revitalize the Petunia Industry.

[@ramenchanwi]

Narrative telephone is back and I am so happy! It gave me so much serotonin during quarantine and will always have a special place in my heart

[@mariaelenagarciamolero1437]

Sam's freeze-frame was the best thing ever, the cast needs to use for a shirt, just all of them with that face in their shirts as vengeance hahahaha

[@homeless0alien]

Can hardly hear the cast reactions which is the funny part! So excited the series is back though!

[@jokyza1379]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSA!!!!!! Thank You CR, been waiting 3 years for this to come back haha

[@gabrielcabreira1740]

Same! 🙌

[@melissavice9967]

oh matt came out with nightmare difficulty on this one

[@GoZo1337]

Ashley said "fuck it imma re-write the story"

[@walderlopes3372]

I'm glad they're releasing it for non subscribers, even if it's a few weeks behind. Thanks to those who can subscribe, and to the cast for releasing it after a bit.

[@foxburnsed7700]

Been awhile since we seen one of these! Cheers lads

[@princemills6022]

🎼Been a🎵whiiiillllllleee🎶

[@Goldcrusty]

This is pure gold and I need 2 separate subtitles to enjoy this one for the narrative and other one for the cast laughing and making jokes. I can't even type my enjoyment of these kind of videos you guys are making! Keep up the good work!

[@RolandLory]

YES my favorite thing in whole critical role universe. It's the most condensed fun in a world that I had seen, and the best thing covid lockdown gave us. I can't be more happy that right now cuz this is back for a new season.

[@jisuan7769]

matt is out for blood on this one 😂 he went so hard

[@jarmuzz]

This Matt's is revenge for them laughing at his Npc's names.

[@another_julia]

the way every narrative telephone will always develop down into “hello im [character]” every time is so 😭 youtuber core

[@annafantasia]

Bookended by the wrapup/lesson!

[@meghanmcgowan7748]

Everyone's Artagan impressions were a wild time, but Sam's attempt at the little simpering laugh absolutely sent me into fight or flight

[@r.f.switch5847]

I refuse to believe Taliesin doesn't know how to communicate in Semaphore flags

[@Alassandros]

I'm so glad this show is back. They make me laugh so damn hard.

[@princemills6022]

@@Alassandros I haven't stopped laughing...it's a problem 🤣🤣🤣

[@dragonmomandahamster]

Ashley, you make my heart so happy!!

[@selinamarierose]

I’m so happy with the new format, I used to always skip the first play through. Perhaps turning up the cast volume though or pausing the play through when the cast gets heavy into commentary might help with other peoples complaints about not hearing everything. Or adding on screen captions of just the playthrough on the side

[@sunnybloom7272]

Alliteration!! Matthew how dare you such a strong start

[@tyeconger8735]

The moment I started to hear the alliteration, I couldn’t stop laughing and all I can think was who is the unlucky individual who has to follow that.

[@BrokenHeartAlchemist]

I'm so glad you guys added Matt's performance by itself to the beginning of the video. Wish you guys brought back the others too just cuz it can get so chaotic trying to hear over everyone else's commentary

[@NotQuesadilla]

I'm SO happy this show is back!! I always look forward to Ashley's iterations LOL

[@divineoblivion1]

Thank you for an amazing video and for always making a positive moment in the day. I know you all work hard and it's amazing to see all that you guys do. Thank you always

[@JackOfBlackPhoenix2]

Moral of the story: Wash your balls and buy petunias 😂

[@davidparkes7741]

Moral of the story misunderstood, washed some petunias & bought some balls.

[@ramirospinelli6453]

man, Travis did REALLY well on this one

[@pippastrelle]

Matt, applause to you, amazing start to the new Narrative Telephone! :D

[@averageboss92]

I just thought about this format a few days ago, wondering if I'd ever see another episode of this wonderful beast of an idea. This fills me with so much joy, you have no clue

[@davidmorris6707]

So happy to see this is back! Just seen it starts with Matt! So excited!!

[@XtrmPlays]

YES THE RETURN. I have missed this series so much.

[@stardust5544]

I’m so glad they brought this back!

[@johna6352]

Soooooooooooo happy this is back!! 😂 Also, loved the Clue movie reference, and later the "Hello Darkness my old friend" comment on Taliesin's rendition!

[@emrys173]

This was the instant therapy I needed today, thank you

[@pippastrelle]

Luis is just there :P He lives in the studio. The guests cannot escape

[@pesky19]

"it was 2 minutes but felt like 2 hours" matt: i hear that a lot😏😏

[@mariaelenagarciamolero1437]

Look, I loved it, it was amazing, watched it on beacon and watched it here too. The only downside to me is that you can't hear very much the cast reacting to the narration, that's all but aside from that it was so much fun and Matt had no mercy

[@cssruth]

This (day after elections) is the day I needed this most. I'm so glad this is when I saw this video.

[@battlemercy5153]

I've missed this sooooooooo much. This got me through Covid

[@RJ3-0000]

Utilizing that many forms of wordplay while maintaining a meaningful story is impressive.

[@bigblue3936]

Matt, to get payback after all these years, decides to do a V for Vendetta type speech with all his alliteration and repeating sounds

[@Poodle_and_cheese]

I love going to the last video first, experiencing the raw and twisted version first, then going back and seeing how it devolved from the beginning. It's gold everytime 😂😂

[@somethinglikethisorthat273]

Hey, my mental health is bad. Critical Role: So we're bringing back narrative telephone for ya

[@clivevii2231]

oh my god, just recently I rewatched some old episodes, i can't believe it!!

[@i_think_i_am_lost]

It's back!!🎉

[@NavidSensei]

for some reason I initially expected them to be on a call again, like the original series. this makes so much more sense. Also, I laugh nonstop on this series. please continue it.

[@saulmighty]

I don't know... I had more fun when the reveal of what the first story said was left until the end, like before! We want to immerse ourselves in the fun as an audience and that is kind of ruined when it's edited and condensed this much in post. And it was hard to concentrate on both the commentary and the story at the same time, especially as a non-English speaker. Why change something that worked so well before?

[@IISheireenII]

Like before? They always had the original story first

[@claudiazinser4408]

​@@IISheireenIIThey mean having all the retellings then the commentary

[@jacobgalloway1392]

I genuinely didn’t realize just how much this series helped me through the pandemic, and how much I missed it till now. Thank you for bringing it back.

[@80AM.]

We are back baby!!!

[@verwulf]

Travis did really well. I forgot everything halfway through the second time they played that video. There's no way I would have remembered any of this.

[@spacecowboyeddie6803]

Please put “I escaped from fairy jail” on a t-shirt 🧚‍♂️