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[xellas84]

First post here, and it's mostly because I've been driven to the brink of insanity by these damned raccoons!

I just don't understand how they are getting in.  I've had the fortress sealed so tightly that a HYDRA couldn't get inside without getting caught (I know, cause I've got the bastard in a cage, waiting on my DM to arrive to turn him into an awesome door guard).  Yet somehow, not one but TWO raccoons managed to sneak past SIX guard dogs in a straight 3x3 corridor (Restrained against the walls with ropes in pairs), past TWO lines of traps that went wall to wall (One with massive corkscrews, the second with cages), past a stationed squad of 5 armed dwarves, into my clothing stockpile (Which is in the middle of my stockpile room, one of the busiest rooms in my 120 dwarf fortress), steal several exceptional cloth items, and then sneak all the way back out and exit the map, without EVER being seen.

This is not the first time it's happened either.  I've checked every last thing I can think of.  The only other 'entrances' into my fortress are the flood tunnels for my farms and my well.  The flood entrances are blocked with floodgates, and the well goes down 3 z levels before taking a diagonal turn to kill the pressure and hooking back up, all under 7/7 water.  What the heck kind of tags do those little buggers have that lets them do that?

[Laurin]

Also those raccoons are mutant raccoons with super powers.
"A racoon has stolen a silver war hammer" ...

[Proteus]

Maybe they are trapavoid...
that would explain  how they passed your traps unharmed

And für your guard dogs...
it might be that, when they tried to flee from one of your guard dogs, they fled into the wrong direction
(i.e. deeper into the fortress instead out of it)

[xellas84]

Maybe they are trapavoid...
that would explain  how they passed your traps unharmed

And für your guard dogs...
it might be that, when they tried to flee from one of your guard dogs, they fled into the wrong direction
(i.e. deeper into the fortress instead out of it)

That would make sense if there was only one set of dogs.  There's 3 individual pairs, set in succession.  They MIGHT be able to slip in past one set, but there's no way they could get in without going past 4 guard dogs.

And there was no notice at all about them, no alert.  Not even a combat report.

[Zaik]

weird, i've never had a raccoon avoid traps before. I occasionally see  raccoon corpses on my weapon traps and have no idea where they came from, but it's always on the first row

[Psieye]

I was going to ask "are you sure those cloth items were from your stockpile?" but then I noticed they were exceptional quality so that rules out invader belongings left outside. I'd still suspect that though, unless there's some hole in your fort which the hydra didn't care for but the raccoons did (simply by where they spawned as a starting location).

[Proteus]

As Psieye mentions it...
another poissibility would be remains of a trading caravan that was killed during one ambush or invasion in the past...
I think trading caravans could have (on rare occasions) exceptional quality clothing items with them...
and if one mule/horse of a trading caravan got killed, all the items that it carried would be forbidden
(preventing your dwarves from carrying it into your fortress

[jei]

First post here, and it's mostly because I've been driven to the brink of insanity by these damned raccoons!

I just don't understand how they are getting in.  I've had the fortress sealed so tightly that a HYDRA couldn't get inside without getting caught (I know, cause I've got the bastard in a cage, waiting on my DM to arrive to turn him into an awesome door guard).  Yet somehow, not one but TWO raccoons managed to sneak past SIX guard dogs in a straight 3x3 corridor (Restrained against the walls with ropes in pairs), past TWO lines of traps that went wall to wall (One with massive corkscrews, the second with cages), past a stationed squad of 5 armed dwarves, into my clothing stockpile (Which is in the middle of my stockpile room, one of the busiest rooms in my 120 dwarf fortress), steal several exceptional cloth items, and then sneak all the way back out and exit the map, without EVER being seen.

This is not the first time it's happened either.  I've checked every last thing I can think of.  The only other 'entrances' into my fortress are the flood tunnels for my farms and my well.  The flood entrances are blocked with floodgates, and the well goes down 3 z levels before taking a diagonal turn to kill the pressure and hooking back up, all under 7/7 water.  What the heck kind of tags do those little buggers have that lets them do that?

They probably didn't get in and robably just stole some stuff left outside by dead merchants, kobold thieves and such.

[Fellhuhn]

Freshly drafted soldiers tend to drop their clothing if they go to fetch new one (or armor). Even if you have only one piece of new equipment that might lead to ten or more dwarves to drop whatever they are wearing now, right on spot, and sprint for the one piece. Like women during a sale.

[xellas84]

Could possibly be them snatching discarded stuff off the dead caravan guards... had some unfortunate trouble with a cyclops right when the human caravan arrived, ended up with a couple of them dead.  Thought I'd gathered all their stuff up though.

The base is pretty secure though... I actually survived the hydra by sealing myself in with a quickly built wall across my entrance (while he snacked on my defenseless dorfs outside), and once I was sealed up, he just sat outside the door and waited for me to build the cagetrap line and let him in.

I'm actually disappointed in how calm it's been.  I think I'm 5 or 6 years in now, no goblin attacks, no kobold attacks.   In fact, i've had only 3 hostile creatures come anywhere near my base (And two FB's down in the sealed caverns, but they don't matter atm).  I'm exporting crafted goods like a madman (exported 56k worth of goods so far).

[snelg]

Unless you're sure items went missing in your stockpiles I'd say they were found somewhere else. Like other's already mentioned it's very likely that the stolen items were lying around somewhere outside. It could be anything from invaders to caravans to your own dwarves who dropped them due to one reason or another. The raccoons might've jumped a hauler carrying a sock or whatever. Have you had lot's of ambushes/sieges or other problems outside the fort? Any caravans gone missing?

edit:  Quite likely one of the dwarves who were dealt with by the cyclops left some clothing outside. 

[xellas84]

I WISH I'd had something interesting happen.  At this point, I've had a grand total of 3 enemies show up.  I'm getting tempted to build a deathtrap around my trading post just so I can actually get some sieges going.

[Zidane]

All of my dwarfs are afraid of raccoons, I think it's hilarious.