OMG, the first spell cast (which I hadn't noticed) was "bleed", which seemed to give him some fatigue.
then, in the Last few microseconds (after the Last death cry of the Last jade sorceress), his fatigue went from 91 to 93 to 97, and he accumulated two afflictions (limp and never healing wound).
Then he went "poof".
I had no idea bleed was a pretender killer. It's a level 0 spell for crissakes.
thanks for the suggestions. checking his fatigue clued me in. Still seems kinda crazy. He still had huge hit points and was under a 100 fatigue at the end.
