Wizard epic quest help - Note to Arantir

[JickFromTholuxe]

So... I think I have made an unfortunate mistake with my Wizard epic quest. I seem to have destroyed the "Note to Arantir", the item you hand into the undercover wizard in Halas to spawn Arantir, the mob that you do the final turn-in with.

With this destroyed, I seem to have 4 options:

1. Spawn Arantir by using the Ro's Breath potion method used earlier in the quest and hand him the three staffs. I am doubtful that this version of Arantir won't just eat the whole epic because he's not the right "version" of NPC. I would need confirmation from someone else that this NPC definitely accepts the items.
2. Re-do the Plane of Fear mob fight to get another Note to Arantir. Doable, but a PITA.
3. Piggyback off someone else who is doing their final turn-in; turn my staffs in after they spawn the final form of Arantir. I am unsure whether Arantir despawns after he gives out an epic.
4. Petition for a GM to restore the destroyed Note to Arantir. Unless something has changed recently with how petitions are processed, I wouldn't ever expect to get my item back this way.

So my questions for y'all are (A) does anyone know for certain that the earlier version of Arantir can accept the staffs and give out the epic, or (B) whether Arantir despawns after giving out an epic?

Thanks in advance