I'm a rather new player (Played for a few months in the past, just returned for another take at the game.) and I have discovered the "First" characters while travelling this morning. They were two slavic folk, and I had the common sense to get off my boat, and let them have it, them knocking me out in the process.
After travelling further inland, I returned to my hearth-stone only to find the man that almost ended my life coming up on my counter; thinking it was some sort of cruel joke, I ran into my house, only to get knocked out again by the same man who nearly brought my life to a close.
Is there some skill that allows you to track down engaged targets hearth-stones, or teleport, or something?
Or am I just one of the luckiest hearthlings that had a close call to death twice in five minutes?