Captured By The Thalmor: Southrange Gaol 1.5.1

CBT: Captured By The Thalmor

 

Captured By the Thalmor is a mod where your character is captured by the Thalmor (duh) and tortured for information. They want to know how Thorald Gray-Mane got out of Northwatch Keep, and you're the key to finding out. This roleplay-focused quest mod gives you multiple ways to respond--Will you meekly cooperate? Defiantly resist? Proclaim the gospel of Talos?

 

Video Preview:

(That's https://www.xvideos.com/video.ohpmumv155e/captured_by_the_thalmor_skyrim_sexlab_mod, if the embed isn't showing up for you)

 

New Release, May 2026: CBT Version 1.5

 

FEATURING:

• A female interrogator! Thanks to popular demand, you can now choose between Keldara (F) and Keldarin (M) to torment your character. 
• An MCM! I finally learned how to code a mod configuration menu. You can now enable/disable different torture methods, set the chance your character will be rescued, and more.
• New mechanics! The guards outside your cell can detect, scold, and punish you for casting spells or trying to pick the lock. Also, you now have some ability to pause the interrogation.
• Dozens of new lines, for both the player and NPCs!
• Bugfixes galore!

 

Details on all the changes are listed below, under "New in Version 1.5".

 

PLEASE NOTE that I do NOT recommend updating CBT mid-quest. Some of the changes in 1.5 look minor on the surface but required a complete reconfiguration under the hood. You can install/update this mid-playthrough, but only if you haven't yet rescued Thorald from Northwatch Keep.

 

What Makes CBT Special?

 

• It's 100% fully voiced! A handful of lines are spliced together from vanilla, but the vast majority were voiced by yours truly and then run through an ElevenLabs voice changer. (Apologies if you hate AI; I know it's not ideal, but I wasn't about to put my real voice on a LoversLab mod.)
• The interrogator will react to your dialogue and remember earlier incidents, affecting the choices you have when interacting with them. If you get caught in a lie, then the interrogator will be much less trusting later on. If you're defiant, they'll react differently than if you're meek and polite.
• There are several possible endings depending on how you respond. Will you be executed, released, or rescued? Try this mod a few different times and find out!

How to Start

This is a sequel to the vanilla quest Missing in Action. Complete that quest first. Once it's finished, go down to the Solitude docks; there will now be an Altmer "merchant" named Keldarin or Keldara hanging around near Jolf the boat guy. Talk to the Altmer, and the next time you go to sleep, the CBT quest will begin. Alternatively, there's an option in the MCM to start the quest.

 

 

 

What's New In Version 1.5

 

Male or Female Interrogator

 

You can now choose whether you want your torturer/rapist to be a man or a woman! Both versions are fully integrated and 100% voiced; other than the voice, body, and name, you'll have exactly the same experience.

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE INTERROGATOR'S GENDER MID-QUEST. Because of the way I set the quest up when I was younger, dumber, and newer to modding, the gender is locked in as soon as Keldarin/Keldara first appears on the Solitude docks. You MUST choose the gender in the MCM before entering Northwatch Keep (if playing through the quest chain) or starting the quest manually. If you don't, the gender will be chosen for you. 

 

Mod Configuration Menu

 

CBT finally has an MCM! Settings now under your control include:

 

• Interrogator Gender: As mentioned above, you must set this before beginning the quest.
• NSFW content allowed: This is enabled by default, which means...
  • Rape scenes are possible. (They can still be temporarily activated/deactivated in the "Torture Methods" tab, but NSFW content must be allowed in order to enable rape scenes.)
  • The guards will sexually harass you while you're in your cell. (These are just comments, though; no SL scenes will actually play.) 
  • Your character will be stripped naked upon being abducted. (While the first two mechanisms can be turned on/off at any time, this only runs once, at the moment when you're first captured. Changing the NSFW settings after that point will have no effect on your character's clothing or inventory.)
• Start quest:  Ticking this box will immediately start Captured By The Thalmor, which will let you bypass Missing in Action entirely
• Allow player to feign unconsciousness: This is a new feature that's enabled by default--if you pretend to pass out, they'll take you back to your cell. Now you can enter your cell any time you want, rather than waiting for your health to drop or by picking the right combination of dialogue responses. This allows you to pause the interrogation at any time and take a break/debug issues/try to escape. 
  If you want a super hardcore experience, though--where you're not done until the interrogator decides you're done--you can disable this option.
• Chance player will be rescued: The original version of CBT had a random chance that the player would be rescued, which would sometimes result in the player getting rescued before really getting a chance to play, and other times would result in the player not getting rescued for ages. There's now a slider that allows you to set the percent chance that you'll be rescued every time you sleep--by default, set to 20%. If you NEVER want to be saved from your torment, you can set this to 0%; if you want out immediately, set this to 100% and then sleep in the bed in your cell.
• Torture Methods: The quest includes multiple possible torture methods, including:
  • Being beaten with a mace
  • Being carved up with a knife
  • Being pummeled with bare fists
  • Being burned with fire magic
  • Being frozen with frost magic
  • Being electrocuted with lightning magic
  • Being attacked by a familiar
  • Being poisoned
  • Being hit with a fear spell
  • Being soundly whipped
  • Being magically choked
  • And (of course!) being violently raped
    
    All of these methods can be activated/deactivated within the MCM (although please note that you must have at least one non-rape option active for the mod to function correctly).

 

Lockpicking and Magic Detection

 

The guards outside your cell are now capable of noticing that you're casting a spell or trying to get your door open--so make sure you're sneaky about it! The first few times they catch you using magic or picking the lock, they'll issue a verbal warning; after that, they'll interrupt you. (This is more for immersion's sake than to add any significant challenge; avoid doing it while the guards are staring directly at you, and you'll be fine.)

 

New Dialogue

 

A handful of new random lines have been added to the guards and to the interrogator, sprinkled throughout the quest. (Also shoutout to sorrowsmith for suggesting a good player retort to the first question!) 

The biggest addition is a small scene that will begin when Keldarin/Keldara enters bleedout, giving you the opportunity to deliver some cool one-liner before murdering them. (It's entirely optional, though, and can be bypassed completely by killing them outright. If you want to talk to the interrogator before murdering them, make sure to kill them slowly 😁)

 

Bugfixes

 

• Better support for custom races
• I finally worked out the three-dot-dialogue-on-unrelated-NPCs issue; thanks to Crowzm on Nexus for pinpointing the source of the problem
• Improved the combat grunts/death cries for custom-voiced characters--no more weird Elevenlabs moans
• Fixed clipping and z-fighting in a few spots
• Various other minor improvements

 

Required Mods
 

SexLab (and its requirements). That's it.

 

While not a hard requirement, SSE Engine Fixes is highly recommended; it helps improve stability and prevents random crashing on larger modlists.

If you want a version with NO requirements at all, there's a SFW version over on Nexus. (You won't be able to access the MCM unless you have SkyUI, though.)

Recommended Mods

• Some Collision Camera: This mod was designed to be played in either first OR third person, but if you play in third person, you'll probably want something that will allow you to better view your character while they're shackled in place--the furniture camera can be wonky in vanilla. Some Collision Camera is the one I tested with and it worked perfectly, but there may be other mods that do just as well. (Unfortunately I can't recommend SmoothCam since it's been reported to cause problems with NPC detection of the player.)
• Report Talos Shrines to the Thalmor: Really only necessary if you plan to cooperate with the interrogator. If you're well-behaved and cooperative, you'll be asked to become an informant for the Thalmor, but CBT doesn't actually provide a way to do that. This mod does.
• Survival Mode Settings: CBT can get very difficult very quickly if you play on AE Survival Mode, as you'll likely be forced to go without sleep for a while. Survival Mode Settings can make it easier. (I don't use other survival mode mods, but you may want to keep the sleep deprivation in mind for those as well.)
• Speechcraft Randomization: Makes the interrogation just a little bit trickier to navigate. Vanilla speechcraft is an automatic fail when your speech is below a certain level and an automatic pass when it gets above a certain level. You can use this mod if you want to shake things up a bit--keeping you guessing about whether your lies and persuasion will actually work or not.

Compatibility
 

• Unfortunately not compatible with LE. You'll need at least SE to play this mod.
• Does not touch the vanilla prison system, so should be compatible with any prison-related mods.
• Any followers will be dismissed when you're captured, so I recommend leaving them somewhere you know you can find them before starting. 
• This mod is compatible with AE survival mode (and most other survival mods) but playing with them will make surviving the torture and/or escaping from the prison MUCH harder. Your cell will contain a small water source and 1-2 pieces of food, but you won't get much more than that, and resting will be pretty much impossible. (Think of it as *extra realism*.)
• This mod should be usable in a load order alongside Devious Devices and similar mods, but I do NOT recommend playing through it while locked in any DD device. Get out of your bondage before starting the quest.
• This mod temporarily tweaks the player-death mechanics so that if you take too much punishment, you'll pass out instead of just dying outright. If you play with a death-alternative mod (e.g. SexLab Defeat), I recommend temporarily disabling it while using CBT, and reactivating it after you get free.
• SmoothCam has been reported to interfere with NPC forcegreets/detection of the player. Use at your own risk.
• JK's Solitude Outskirts appears to interfere with the placement of Keldarin at the very start of the quest (at the Solitude docks).

Q & A

Can I install this mid-playthrough?
As long as you haven't yet rescued Thorald from Northwatch Keep, yes! If you have already rescued him, then you can start the mod via the MCM, or by entering "setstage cbtsintro 0" into the console.

Why does my health keep going down?
Every time you are tortured, your maximum health, stamina, or magicka will be slightly decreased. The debuff will persist until you sleep outside the Thalmor prison.
This is meant to give you a reason to want to avoid being tortured--if you end up taking too much punishment, escape will become difficult or downright impossible.

Okay, I'm tired of being in jail. How do I get out?
Cooperate with the interrogator, duh. It's not a lie when they say that if you tell the truth (and mind your manners) you'll be released.

But the Thalmor suck and I don't WANT to cooperate?
Okay, fine, you've got other options. One is to try to escape from your cell in between interrogations. If you manage to pick the lock, kill your jailors, and then fight your way out, you'll be home free. Much like the Cidnha Mine quest or literally any other prison escape, this will be easiest for gear-light builds (mages, stealth gods, punchcats) and harder for characters that rely on a specific weapon or armor item. Also this will be much easier at higher levels and pretty darn near impossible at lower ones.
If you refuse to cooperate and can't escape (or if you're too much of an asshole) your captors may decide to drag you outside and shoot you. When that happens, my advice is to run like hell.
And if none of the above applies--you broke all your lockpicks but keep stringing the Thalmor along with no end to the interrogation in sight--there's a random chance you'll get rescued. You can set the odds of that rescue in the MCM; put the slider at 100% and it'll happen the next time you go to sleep.

Where'd my gear go?
A chest in the prison's armory. If you escape, you'll pass it on the way out; if you get rescued or cooperate enough to be released, your items will be automatically returned.
You're in a little more trouble, though, if you piss your captors off enough for them to try to kill you. When you escape execution, you'll be stranded in the wilderness with no gear. The GOOD news is that there's nothing stopping you from returning to the prison later to exact your revenge and grab your stuff.

Something has gone horribly wrong?
I recommend reverting to a previous save. The mod is supposed to auto-save periodically, but it won't hurt to make a hard save before you start the quest and occasional quicksaves along the way. (That's a good practice when working with quest mods generally, TBH.)

What race/gender is this intended for?
Whichever one you want! None of the sexual comments are gender-specific, and any race can choose to resist the Thalmor.
You can now also choose between a male interrogator/rapist (Keldarin) and a female one (Keldara).

Is there any actual CBT?
Well... it's not NOT a cock-and-ball torture mod. You can always play a male character, stay in first-person view, and imagine that every mace blow or electrical shock is aimed at your nuts.
There is no cognitive behavioral therapy in this mod, unless you're the type of person who has ever thought "Being tortured by a hot elf would fix me." If that's the case, I have great news.

Troubleshooting

• If your character doesn't get placed into the shackles correctly, reload and try again; that'll fix the problem in 80% of cases. (You can also try "Feign unconsciousness" to get returned to your cell and then sit in the chair there; that fixed the problem in every case I've encountered, but is a little more of a pain.) (By "more of a pain" I mean that you may have to use TFC in order to get your character correctly pointed at the chair.)
• Try not to exit dialogue with the interrogator! If you don't want to say anything, pick the "Remain Silent" option instead. Closing out that conversation can leave you stuck in chains and unable to continue the quest; the interrogator is set to forcegreet you every so often as a failsafe, but the AI doesn't always trigger consistently.
• There is a bug where getting attacked by the familiar may start combat/re-enable your controls. If that happens, do NOT try to fight or move. The familiar is on a timer and will disappear after a few seconds, but leaving the shackles when the game doesn't expect you to leave the shackles will break things.
• If the Sexlab scenes aren't playing (after it displays the message "Keldarin begins undressing") then try opening/closing the console or MCM once or twice. It may take a few seconds.
• You must have at least one aggressive animation enabled for the rape scenes to play; basic SexLab contains a couple by default but you can add animation packs to make things more interesting. I recommend FunnyBiz' or Billyy's Rape Redux.
• If you're playing as a male character with a female interrogator, you'll likely need to do some tweaking in the SexLab MCM settings to make sure that the interrogator rapes you rather than you raping her. You can handle this by only having "femdom" animations toggled on, but I know there aren't that many of them out there

  My personal configuration is to go to the Sexlab MCM Animation Settings tab, then deselect the "Filter Gender Tags Animations" option and select both the "Adjust Victim/Aggressor Positions" and "Females use strap-ons" options. This will allow animations that are designed as "male aggressively penetrates female" to instead play as "female aggressively pegs male" instead.)

• If you are not being correctly teleported to and from your cell: You can try entering "player.moveto XX1c9913" in the console. The "XX" part will be two digits that correspond to your specific load order; the easiest way to find out what they are is to click on an object you know is in the mod (say, Keldarin/Keldara) and then copy the first two numbers from the RefId. That command should teleport you into the player cell, and sleeping in the bed there should teleport you into the interrogation chamber.
• Some users also have reported that teleportation problems (i.e. when the player sleeps, or passes out from the torture) can be resolved by installing SSE Engine Fixes, parts 1 and 2.

What's Next?

Now that the female interrogator has been implemented, I'm hoping to make a player-enslavement expansion that can tie into this quest. I'm also thinking about "Captured By" mod for other factions (e.g. the Dark Brotherhood). 

 

Credits
 

Shoutout to Seijin8 and Gristle for coding tips--this mod required more scripting than I'd ever done before lol. Any mistakes are mine alone.

 

All voices are either original to the game or done by me (run through an Elevenlabs voice changer).

All new sound effects are from FreeSound. Specific files are:
anton_stikken4.WAV by Anton -- https://freesound.org/s/23093/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Whip Crack 01.wav by CGEffex -- https://freesound.org/s/93100/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Mixed Whip Crack 1.wav by peterbullmusic -- https://freesound.org/s/351267/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Whip slash by Valerie-Vivegnis -- https://freesound.org/s/761411/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Whip Crack.m4a by SciFiSounds -- https://freesound.org/s/529925/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Whip #3 by Universfield -- https://freesound.org/s/758830/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Whip Crack.mp3 by CGEffex -- https://freesound.org/s/89770/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Creeper short 1 (resonant dark) by EphJayMusic -- https://freesound.org/s/746624/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Eerie drone by jhumbucker -- https://freesound.org/s/193821/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Horror Background Atmosphere #6 by Universfield -- https://freesound.org/s/730121/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Cries of the Damned - Wails from Hell by DeqstersLab -- https://freesound.org/s/746494/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

FIREBurn_Burning Swaying fire.Crackling.Roar Of Flame 2_EM_(4lrs).wav by newlocknew -- https://freesound.org/s/626277/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

Wails_ses2.wav by freesound -- https://freesound.org/s/25287/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Sam Qualiana from freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/Capt_Bligh1/sounds/690702/)

Doctorsex on freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/doctorsex/sounds/699908/)

Mr. Fossy on freesound.org (https://freesound.org/search/?f=grouping_pack%3A%2230826_Voice+%E2%80%93+Male+Grunts+and+Screams%22)

jorickhoofd on freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/180350/)

Volonda on freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/Volonda/sounds/439518/)

screaming_male_effort.mp3 by GabrielaUPF -- https://freesound.org/s/220285/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

male_grunts.wav by that_sound_guy92 -- https://freesound.org/s/442716/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

marc3122 (https://freesound.org/people/marc3122/sounds/556976/?)

tvilgiat https://freesound.org/people/tvilgiat/sounds/462932/

SnowFightStudios https://freesound.org/people/SnowFightStudios/sounds/643669/

stemsandseedspod https://freesound.org/people/stemsandseedspod/sounds/513235/

RepDac3 https://freesound.org/people/RepDac3/sounds/477756/

pseudonymian https://freesound.org/people/pseudonymian/sounds/573096/

AlesiaDavina https://freesound.org/people/AlesiaDavina/

newlocknew https://freesound.org/people/newlocknew/sounds/653070/

RutgerMuller https://freesound.org/people/RutgerMuller/packs/6623/

JuanFG https://freesound.org/people/JuanFG/sounds/471953/

montblanccandies https://freesound.org/people/montblanccandies/sounds/332044/

XfiXy8 https://freesound.org/people/XfiXy8/sounds/467293/

Male Coughing by beyercreative -- https://freesound.org/s/774818/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

Choking by Bowesy -- https://freesound.org/s/522163/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Metallic Gate Sounds by eqavox -- https://freesound.org/s/683954/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Intense Sizzling 4 by Yoyodaman234 -- https://freesound.org/s/334672/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Intense Sizzling 1 by Yoyodaman234 -- https://freesound.org/s/334675/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Rachet_Joint by SoundsofTheMachine -- https://freesound.org/s/789060/ -- License: Creative Commons 0