Battle at the Bronze

The Battle at the Bronze was one of the first major battles for the Slayer in Sunnydale, California. The conflict was between the Master's followers known as the Order of Aurelius, and the Scooby Gang in order to prevent the end of the world.

Background
Shortly after Buffy Summers moved to Sunnydale, she was united with her Watcher, Rupert Giles, who informed her of the high presence of vampires in the small town. With the help of an then unknown ally, Angel, they, along with her new friends, Willow and Xander, discovered that the night of the Harvest was near.

The Master, having been trapped in the Hellmouth for years, annointed his strongest follower, Luke, to be his vessal. As the vessal, every human Luke would feed on would bring strength to the Master, until he could break free from the Hellmouth, bringing forth the Old Ones, and ending the world. The Master's followers went to the Bronze at sunset, and held the patrons hostage while Luke began to feed on them.

The Battle
Buffy arrived in time to prevent Luke from feeding on Cordelia. She slayed one vampire and began her one-on-one brawl with Luke. While she was fighting, the other Scoobies began sneaking people out of the Bronze. A vampire attacked Xander, but Buffy decapitated him with a cymbal. Xander stopped his old friend, Jesse, from feeding on Cordelia, and tried talking to him, but Jesse having no soul would hear none of it. A fleeing customer pushed Jesse into the wooden stake Xander was holding, killing the vampire before he was grabbed by two other vampires. Meanwhile, Giles was attacked by the vampire, Darla. Willow grabbed a jar of holy water, throwing it in Darla's face, forcing her to retreat as the water burned her.

Buffy threatened Luke with metal stand from a drum set. Knowing metal objects to the heart wouldn't kill vampires, Luke remain unintimidated. However, Buffy told him he did not take into account sunrise and used the rod to break the glass, letting in light. Luke, startled by it, realized shortly that it was only light from a street lamp, but too late to stop Buffy from staking him in the back, informing him sunrise was still nine hours away. With Luke's death, the Master lost his power to break free remaining trapped in the Hellmouth, and the remaining vampires at the Bronze fled, releasing Xander.

Aftermath

Despite the paranormal encounter, there was little to no attention brought to the event by the residents of Sunnydale. Most of the witnesses to the event outside of the Scoobies, including Cordelia, went through a state of denial, where they forgot or rationalized-away the supernatural aspects of the night. This would be a first of many battles Buffy would have to fight while she lived in Sunnydale.

Scooby Gang

 * Buffy Summers
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Xander Harris
 * Rupert Giles

Survivors

 * Darla
 * 2 vampires

Deceased

 * Luke
 * Jesse McNally
 * 2 vampires

Appearances

 * "The Harvest"