I'll chime in on this seeing as I think I was the first or one of the first PC casualties in regards to the Slatestones. I haven't been around game in a couple years unfortunately so I'll give a quick recap of my character death. To make a fairly long story short this is what happened-
My character (Thein) was persuaded by an IC and OOC friend to sell a certain dagger of awesomeness. When we met up to complete the sale I was knocked out by said friend and given over to the Slatestones. I was a double agent of sorts, spying on the Slatestones for the town whilst the Slatestones though I was spying on the town. Well that didn't turn out very well. My character was betrayed by his friend Scyriss (OOC Brett, you douche!). Needless to say, the Slatestones killed me and I was no more. Personally, I thought it was an awesome way to go out. I didn't see it coming at all which made the game seem that much more real to me. Sure it sucked that my character of two years was no more, but it's part of the game.
So to reiterate what others are saying, if you don't like PVP then make sure you consider that before you get caught to close to the fire. And even then, you never know if you're safe! So keep a back up PC ready, or maybe even a couple of them!