Caleb's Wall of Fire | Critical Role Highlight | Campaign 2, Episode 42

" I take a bit of phosphorus and squelch it through my hand and cast "Wall of Fire" across the entire length of the boat between them and us" Caleb did that.
I mean the rest is self explanatory.
Taken from Critical Role, Campaign 2 Episode 42, "A Hole In the Plan"

[@CelestiaLily]

Caleb's inner monologue is just "I'M NOT GOING BACK TO JAIL" every time he does something whack. Episode 42, episode 56...

[@simsamsammie]

CelestiaLily I love his “you’ll never take me alive” attitude

[@b3a5t89]

CelestiaLily “does something whack”... Does whack mean something different these days? Because the call Caleb(Liam) made here was both entertaining as hell and caught Avantika’s crew off guard, cutting thru the bullshit and getting to action before the choice to do so was taken away from them.

[@chrism6315]

@@b3a5t89 When it comes to the brass tax Caleb always seems to make very good decisions. They're usually always extreme, but it's always heading that way anyway and it's better to jump first

[@konnorkirkbride9977]

Caleb: I guess Avantikas attitude is a little too "Firey" The crew: This is the comedy police. The jokes too funny. Caleb: *guano and sulfur in hand* I'M NOT GOING BACK TO JAIL.

[@mistamemewide]

Avantika: “This is the pirate police, you can’t be doing this.” Caleb, grinding his hands through sulfur and graune: “IM NOT GOING BACK TO JAIL!”

[@Gaaxure]

A man of quiet action. No hesitation, no second thoughts; when the chips are down - you want him on your side.

[@justjust5580]

Fuck. Yes.

[@sandrafunacc1]

Tbh, I'd want him on my side anyways.

[@Ryn-dq2yr]

He's also a very good wingman!🙃

[@maxinesenior596]

@@Ryn-dq2yr ahaha, yesss

[@mistamemewide]

basically what happened: Caleb: “TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF MY WIZARD MAGIC AND MY MENTAL TRAUMA!” *_grabs graune and sulfur_* *_Casts Wall Of Fire_* Caleb: “I SAWED THIS BOAT IN HALF!”

[@InanimatedAnimation]

"that's a lot of damage..."

[@silk4710]

I'm sure flex tape will fix it.

[@lassedalsgaard5357]

That's a lotta damaaage

[@vinfeugolol7401]

Flex tape that shit

[@deathbykonami5487]

Actually Caleb knew they were found out because Vera knew Locate Object and Caleb didn't have time to ditch Avantika's journal beforehand

[@humblebumble8192]

3:20 and here we see Caleb in his natural habitat, looking up how much fire damage he has to roll for his turn

[@saintconnnor]

AND MARISHA GLARING: OH SHIT, WHAT IS HE GONNA DO THIS TIME.

[@akrinornoname2769]

Players, watch and learn! A good caster looks up their spells before their turn.

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

I love that Liam (Caleb) waits right up until Matt (Vera) locks eyes with him, and *that's* the trigger for him to cast Wall of Fire. He's not jumping the gun, or panicking; you can almost see, Sherlock Holmes style, the scenarios running through in his head, the positives, negatives, probabilities, potential outcomes, and in the corner the numbers running down, down, down, until their gazes meet, and he locks in the course of action with the best probable outcome. As he has stated before, he's a fan of calculated risks.

[@ottokarl5427]

the nice thing is: This worked and was so flawlessly presented, because Matt is such an amazing DM. He just doesn't roleplay the voice of the NPCs, but also their mimic and he doesn't drop it when he finishes speaking, but stays in that role as long as they interact with him. So when he does something like directly looking at you, it isn't random, but a thing the NPC does right now. Liams instant Wall of Flame as soon as he was spotted was so cool because there was no verbal trigger for it (like "Vera looks at you with this knowing smile").

[@voidjockey82]

Matt: "Let's not waste anymore of one another's time." _vison of the whole group hanging by the nech from the mast of the Squalleater_ "We both know how this is going to end." Liam: "Conclusion: Inevitable unless...!" _embers blowing off from thr hand and into the Wall of Fire_

[@virginiamooney4105]

Matt: and that's where we're gonna pick up next week! Liam: Liam: Liam: Liam: Liam: Liam: *shit eating grin*

[@TheGIJew.]

More like Caleb: Caleb: Caleb: Caleb: Caleb: Liam: *shit eating grin*

[@blueshoals]

"...cool."

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

I like how Matt revels in the cliffhanger rage, until he realises it will in fact be a fortnight until it resumes, then it hits him as well.

[@holyheals]

I just love how Caleb is just like “ well this is going to happen.....but it’s going to happen on my terms”

[@Eddrian32]

Avantika: "There has also been a break in to my personal chambers" Jester: "Audible Gasp!" Avantika: "I know"

[@Katio888]

It was Beau actually

[@MisterSmith00]

What ensued was perhaps one of the most chaotic skirmishes I think we've had this campaign...and a complete reversal from "The Mistake" (when everything went horribly wrong and they accidentally stole a ship). The wall of fire...then the epic counterspell...then the Thunder Step...the Dimension Door...the Expeditious Retreat...just one epic chase scene after another...a blizzard...oh yeah, then Fjord summons a freaking demon that proceeds to slaughter the ship crew... Good times.

[@Loktoren]

I would say this is far worse than what they did on the mistake. They were told that if they wronged people on darktow that they would die. They immediately broke that rule and came VERY close to being executed. I believe Matt possibly considered that route and would have had most, if not all of them executed.It's only made worse by them possibly being able to avoiding this whole situation by putting the book in the lead lined box.

[@johnathanera5863]

I mean calebs fireball is what slaughtered the crew not the demon.

[@realmofdoors9605]

One of the best battles in the campaign in my opinion

[@Ghost-Mom]

@@Loktoren I think what they mean is; the mistake was pure chaos where things just happened. This was far more concise and planned. Beginning tom their plan to get the evidence all the way to Avantika's death, they handled themselves expertly in this situation and I don't think there's a way it could have gone better and I can't think of a time since that things played out this well in their favor since.

[@leonardocamilio1206]

@@Ghost-Mom by the way, Caleb did what he, and a lot of wizards, do best, a freaking distraction! And he and Fjord were the barrier between Avantika's Crew and the book. The wall, the demon and the Fireball, everything chaotically working as planned.

[@aneggwithissues8925]

This is coming from someone who has seen episode 56: why does Liam pull the craziest shit off when there is a two week break?

[@hanakorpasova3865]

I was just thinking the exact same thing. From now on whenever there's a break, I am expecting the craziest ending coming from Liam. :-D

[@somejellykid]

Hana Korpasová well in accordance to his brand, here’s to the apocalypse that Caleb will bring after the hiatus 🍻

[@jodah_eternal]

That "NOOOOO" could be used to replace storm alarms around towns

[@SPACEHARICE]

this is caleb's "I throw the sword's Caleb's "would you share a cup cake with me"

[@bdletoast09]

To be fair, Caleb has a lot of moments like this... Probably because Liam is such a DnD nerd and is the best at reading into Matt's story.

[@RowanB6]

Nah, Caleb's "Would you share a cupcake with me" was "I am from the empire, but I am no friend to the empire"

[@thenosieyartist6924]

They all look like guilty nervous ready to run children.... And then theres caleb, "yep they know, ok so I would like to gently cause a a wall of fire around us please?" Edit: HAHA I JUST LOOKED AT TRAVIS JUST :0

[@lucindatheartist6435]

I looked up at the screen (cud I'm down at the comments) right after I read this and just see Travis looking just like u said at around 4:22! Just coicidently when I was reading your comment I was at the best time

[@Gaaxure]

It's like that moment from the movie Snatch: "Ever crossed the road and looked the wrong way? And hey presto, a car's nearly on you, so what do you do? [...] you just freeze, and pull a stupid face. The pikey didn't - why? Because he had plans on running the car over.

[@bdletoast09]

All of the members of the Mighty Nein are important of course but goddamn, does Caleb pull his weight in this team. This kind of shit is exactly what a party should expect from their wizard: quick thinking and display of power.

[@thelastcube.]

Yeah Fjord or Caleb always call the shots when it is required

[@ItsAnotherDanny]

Marisha's shocked gasps and Travis's slow turn towards her, had me lmao

[@Neutral_Tired]

And it was Caleb, the physically weakest of the party both in HP and frame, who stepped between the most powerful enemies they had fought up to that point and his new family. He was the one to step up. Not Fjord, not Jester or Beau-- him. And I think then and there was one of the major moments where Caleb stopped seeing them as a "means to an end" and more as people he'd take a fireball for. And it has only flourished from there.

[@ashleywalla4087]

Also, if I'm remembering right, on top of his normal, day-to-day, squishy-ness he also didn't have all his spell slots and had a point of exhaustion from staying up all night to decode the book, memorize it, and write down a decoded cipher for The Plank King.

[@General_Pinkledink]

Caleb is my favorite character in any show ever!!! Hes the reason as to why I own a cat, whom of which is named Wizard. Great job liam for making and roleplaying such an amazing complex character.

[@phantom_of_romance1945]

Amen! A Caleb fan! Definitely my favorite character this Campaign! I think I have a cat similar to his xD Man character making is so much fun

[@pierluigidipietro8097]

Considering that each end is not scripted, this really multiplies the tension

[@JosephTaber]

When shit gets real, Marisha crouches on her chair. When shit get absolutely bonkers, she climbs under the frakking table. (5:22)

[@ARO377]

5:09 through 5:39 Travis.exe has stopped working lol

[@GZilla311]

ARO377 Oh god I didn’t even notice that. That’s hysterical.

[@Animedork2008]

Liam has a gift for doing epic things right before a two week break

[@teehlfx5238]

One of the most epic moments I’ve witnessed in any storytelling medium.

[@zepwolfx]

Dude, this show is Better than anything on any medium. Lol.

[@hepifin4941]

Probably my favourite episode ending this campaign

[@ElForrest-Okey]

How do you like this now

[@hepifin4941]

​@@ElForrest-Okey well, they beat the wall of fire cliffhanger, I'll give them that

[@ElForrest-Okey]

@@hepifin4941 and again it's all on Caleb's reaction to stuff going sideways.

[@hepifin4941]

@@ElForrest-Okey Caleb is the MVP of this campaign tbf

[@ElForrest-Okey]

@@hepifin4941 true but also like Beau is cool to cause she's always trying to make shit work.

[@kurokaze511]

Travis' slow head turn at 1:50 is honestly the best part.

[@BeyondtheRecord]

you can tell that he was waiting to pull the trigger at any moment 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@General_Pinkledink]

I like how they react the exact same way most people do right before going down on a roller coaster. Its fucking awesome.

[@mini3mayhem]

I think the best thing in the video was Matt yelling “CURSE YOU THANKSGIVING!”

[@stephenoss196]

Im on ep 51 so far but I keep coming back to this moment, this solidified Caleb as my favorite. He claims to be a coward, but he's extremely decisive when everything is on the line

[@ScorchHellfire]

And extremely brutal when he has to be, as later episodes show.

[@quartz9008]

Waiting two weeks for the episode after this one was so painful

[@gilgorenshimoni6404]

Actually made me glad I listen to the podcast and am well behind the timeline when I got to this.

[@ebonyvoigt7257]

Gil Goren Shimoni Oh my god I was the same I’d never have handled a two week break after this 😆

[@tacitakoe5004]

5:02 - Liam is so incredibly proud of himself in this moment! And rightfully so!

[@nanomage]

4:58 Air raid siren.

[@T.M.T.M.]

T H X

[@thedisabledviking]

the best thing about it is how casual Caleb is when he does it

[@deltablaze77]

Caleb's Wall of Fire here is the exact moment I became completely invested and hooked into Campaign 2.

[@ethancknight]

This is still my favorite moment in the entire campaign. Truly incredible thing to imagine in your head. She turns her head to look at the mighty nine crew who have clearly just been caught red handed, and maybe you’d imagine as the rest of the crew follow her gaze towards the mighty nine, a massive wall of fire just shoots up from the boat completely separating all of the crew from them. I like to imagine the view from avantika as she looks at them for a brief second before BAM wall of fire. So. Fucking. Cool. Literally one of the coolest moments that has probably happened in any DND game ever.

[@daniellynch387]

I remember thinking at the end: “Damn...Caleb is a badass!”

[@johnthaxton9235]

One of the understated moments after this was when Marisha claimed to be an expositor from the cobalt sol. Pretty clutch and even had the group w/o dering if she was really a spy.

[@anathem9982]

god I cannot wait to see this campaign animated. Given that LoVM has already been renewed for season 3 it's clearly doing pretty well, which should hopefully imply that they can go all the way

[@christiandavis4502]

This moment right here is what got me into Critical Role.

[@zoltanszaszi2264]

Caleb had previously made it clear that he likes calculated risks. He had also made it clear that during a fight, his mind races with calculations. What not everyone had realized at this point is that inside him, under the anxiety, and under the joyful and sensitive young man, is a merciless, brutally efficient Zemnian killing machine.

[@Awkwardtunity]

Caleb is their Leroy Jenkins.

[@raptorjesues1445]

I really thought they were going to die this time

[@crazydude21000]

Oh fuck yeah dude this could have been real bad like a tpk bad

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

Nighty Mein never says die!

[@DaveyJonesPewbacca]

thank you for uploading these clips. Most of my favorite clip channels stopped updating a few weeks ago, right when the episodes starting getting really good, so I'm thankful for a quick reference to some of my favorite moments

[@Zach-cn4lb]

It is moments like 5:20 that convince me Taliesin is evil incarnate

[@JimankyGaming]

Episode 43 of Campaign 2 is definitely one of the best episodes in the entire show, and these last 6 minutes of episode 42 perfectly set it up.

[@ScorchHellfire]

Coming back to this 2 years later is so weird. Their old seating layout. Their old accents (forgot how much more raspy Tal used to play Caduceus). Their younger faces (it seems the pandemic has aged everyone at double or triple the pace). And Ashley still off at Blindspot. How times have changed...

[@phildressel8865]

LOVED Liam/Caleb in this ep and the next. Ep 43 with counter spell.

[@SunSinger1537]

Find it funny Liam just said Cool at the end

[@TriXJester]

Man that had to be the best cliff hanger so far

[@timandshannon03]

Amazing moment, the fan art was so amazing!

[@TheSokarin]

I think this episode, a few before it and a few after, maybe a 6 episode arc, was the best role play and gameplay of critical role thus far.

[@Gyrogia]

4:52 :D 4:54 :O

[@gabthegreat01]

5:00 Sam trying to go super saiyan there?

[@InsanityVirus]

I'm telling you, Liam is a beautiful mix of calm & chaotic energy I can only hope to achieve someday XD I also hope to achieve Sam's level of Chaos, but 1.) Way too high, even for me 2.) I don't even think Sam would have the balls to do something like this XD

[@seansilveiro2463]

There were parts and arcs in C2 that I thought dragged.... but the highs are so fkn high...

[@cariocadenit]

This was such a fucking power move

[@SteveRazgriz9057]

Still one of my favorite CR moments.

[@dicedragon6207]

I just realized that they could've hid it in the lead box that jester has and it would've been fine

[@someonefromsomewhere1009]

Dice Dragon Caleb needed to decode the cipher

[@hopeskelly]

man I gotta rewatch campaign 2

[@fr0sty_qt314]

The best part is that there was a week break too after this episode. So everyone had to wait two weeks just to see what was going to actually happen 😂

[@asuraaoki1925]

This was so devastating to wait for lol. TWO WEEKS!

[@tonyelliott5045]

i forking love that scene

[@silverbro13]

C2 has a lot of really key moments like these that I adore

[@saarthak421]

One if the best moment in this campaign do far

[@LadyWarmachine]

At about 3:10, Liam picks up the players handbook and turns to the back. He was looking up Wall of Fire.

[@paradoxproxy7368]

I can imagine the to be continued happened when Caleb said wall of fire.

[@mackrjj]

If only there was a cleric inside Avantika's room to cast Silence to stop any noise. Oh, wait. They were so fuckin' lucky afterwards lol

[@baku2575]

Doesn’t silence take a minute to cast lol

[@boserboser6870]

@@baku2575 action or 10 mins as a ritual

[@mattyb.5628]

Pause the video and go to 4:57. Sums up this segment nicely.

[@shweenz]

Still my favorite segment in all of Critical Role.

[@EndiXIV]

Still my favorite moment I think

[@Soter94]

When i have too many friends at home and i don't know where to hang their coats, i use this video.

[@myrrhfortheroad]

Soter Lol, it look me a second. 😂

[@pazz]

Liam is so happy at the end lol.

[@itsreallyhotinmyroom]

Caleb is best

[@mariavendora5545]

This could have definitely turned out WAYYY worse lmao

[@Exisist5151]

Ok is it just me or does the point where it’s just sam and Travis screaming sound exactly like a tornado siren.

[@nopenope3228]

Wall of fire and the counterspell... I hope someone animate both.

[@saintconnnor]

such a powermove.

[@deathbykonami5487]

You know every time Liam plays a wizard I keep picturing Lezard Valeth

[@strider2175]

Funny thing is, a lot of this could've been avoided; besides the mending on the desk, Jester could've painted a new floor while Nott could've used Mage Hand to make a distraction away from the cabin to give Jester time to work. But the end result ended up being awesome so it all works out xD

[@MartinTraXAA]

You can't 'paint a new floor' on a hole.

[@JaxonBurn]

Yeah they tried the new floor thing, didn’t work and wasted heaps of time

[@lucar6897]

How was this a year ago...

[@PalleRasmussen]

Look at Travis being adorable.

[@maximfayez]

feels like breaking bad moment!

[@GZilla311]

maximfayez Agreed. *intense moment* Caleb: ... screw this. *sets everything on fire*

[@hannahpierson6352]

This moment was when I fully fell for Caleb.

[@Kris-fn7kr]

What a great fucking moment.

[@danielboatright8887]

This followed by counterspell...

[@NN-mh4bj]

can someone who understands the context explain to me why caleb cast the wall of fire? why it was needed and why the fighting began? did they stole whatever was stolen?

[@Swash74]

You should really watch from the beginning of the campaign if you haven't done so. Since you've seen this clip, I will answer you. Yes, Caleb had the manuscript that Avantika, the captain of the boat, was searching for. Avantika's crewmate had just cast a spell to locate the manuscript and was looking directly at Caleb. That's why he cast the Wall of Fire spell to separate the two groups because stuff was about to go down.

[@jonathankowatch6947]

4:58 onwards at quarter speed sounds freaky

[@deckssays]

Why you co this to me

[@tythetyrantt4979]

4:46 at .25 speed is amazing

[@undead_pr1est978]

Try double time then lol

[@lucasatkin619]

The campaign definitely picked with this storyline

[@deathbykonami5487]

They cut off the end where Travis says "we're going to war"

[@Vman9484]

I had so much anxiety watching this and then Caleb casts wall of fire! I was like,” wait… wait,wut?!?!” “And that’s where we’ll end tonight’s episode.” WUT!!!

[@stephencarmickle]

I don't know why but matt yelling "Curse you Thanksgiving!" has stuck with me ever since this,.

[@TheJim9191]

"Cool."

[@kaelryder3565]

Am I the only one who misses Avantika :( ? I feel like her end was unjustly brutal for such an interesting character.

[@TheThreeHeadedDragon]

The brutality was justifiable... she was trying to release an apocalyptically powerful serpent onto the world.

[@madisonharper8491]

I just watched this episode and my reaction was much like Travis’ 😂