0.8.38 Game crashes after meeting seagull harpy party from the coastlands

[StrangeCookies]

Problem: After meeting seagull harpy and her water elementals (in theory pc should enter combat), the game crashes.
Game Version: 0.8.38 from Steam
Below are screenshots after the bug happened.

 

[StrangeCookies]

Load a few times and the seagull harpy fight seems ok now. Strange...