Thanks for putting all the effort into hosting!
BigWuk
I work on both a 36 key split board and my laptop's board and I find it pretty easy to go back and forth. I think it helps to have a fairly different layout on the ergo board, it helps keep the muscle memory separate. I still use qwerty on both, but the modifiers and everything are all different.
I will say I mess up keys like x and c a little more often on the laptop now. Those keys are in similar places, but the difference in row stagger can trip me up a little...
I'm a developer and I use a (slightly modified) miryoku layout for my daily driver. I know not everyone loves the home-row mods, but I really like how I can use the layer keys on one hand to get all the symbols on the other. I have to move my hands waaay less than I did with a full size.
I'm not a gm, but when my group played through the beginner box this fight hit us hard too. I think besides what everyone else has said, this encounter is also great at teaching players that they can retreat if things start to go south fast
I'll start. I have this idea kicking around of a halfling summoner who was a gardener before becoming an adventurer. One day his beloved rose bush pulled itself out of the ground and become his plant eidolon. He dumps charisma to focus on wisdom things like battle medicine and casts mostly buff spells. Since the eidolon has it's own stat spread, I believe he'd still be very functional in combat.