ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I had forgotten to do the Agent of the arena quest. So I guess the guy got killed by the elementals. I'll have to remember that for next time.

Agent of the Arena must be done before level 10, IIRC.

14. Before the Dearth/Urkis event.

If you start to talk with him and turn him down, he says something in the ballpark of "I'll hang around a little while longer, just in case you change your mind." I believe this is the only quest in the game that goes away just by getting too high a level, although there's (depending on how you define such things) one or two ways to destroy towns/by inaction allow towns to be destroyed in the game and doing so removes any quests based there.

Well, even if you forgot to do it and Urkis quest start, you can always go there with a good movement infusion and other speed boost and get to him before the elementals kill him.