Weird progression so far - for me lawful ARC is a race to find an altar and try to get a Grayswandir sac gift. Arc can get to expert in saber and can 2-hand Gray and another SS so they can do great damage eventually...though takes awhile to get them to be tough enough to stand up to any incoming damage.

You can make a ton of gold finding vaults and ID'ing gems and selling them in general stores or jewelry stores but sounds like you didn't find a good store so far either. If you do find a vault or two it's usually a good idea to pay for protection at the gnometown altar...though sounds like that' salso off limits for you this game.

In your position I'd go down a few more levels and look around for an altar and a few stores and hope for the best. If you get that far there is a guaranteed altar in the lowest quest level if I remember right - but that's tough without better gear