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