if you don't mind cheating, you can get as much alchemy material as you want. It'll likely be fixed at some point, but on the most recent public build you can open chests without lockpicks/energy by hitting 1 even if it's grayed out. AND you can hit 1 IN the chest to open a new one, rerolling the items. you get alchemy ingredients a lot, and you can find platemail, long swords, claymores, and costumes. All for free.

Aside from that, have you tried using the lab to upgrade yourself? You can boost your agility/strength, and, if you have fur or scales you can enhance them for more defense. I'm not sure if non-furred races have the same option. (I generally play as a Beastkin Cat/Wolf for the combat advantages they get. Dodge chance for cat, Detection and overall combat strength for wolf)

If you have exhausted all these options......all I can say is good luck. I haven't played that far into the story since it was updated.

All this is assuming we're both playing current public. Otherwise I'm not sure I can help.