After a few tests under the conditions you mentioned (one character near Shereth, I started the fight here and blocked the path with objects, so NPCs would start moving them); one character near the cheese vendor; my active character near the gate to Black Cove, opening/closing the door and moving in and out the whole time), I couldn't reproduce this either. And I've no idea what this crash could have been caused by.
Did Elric trigger the auto-save when he walked through the door?
