My advice if you want o have a lot of fun is to gear up with as many quests as you can and not buy anything until at least level 20.
I have a feeling there are more than a few great quests for monk out in lizardland
I also recommend learning how to make patchwork armor to get some AC early on in the newbie areas.
This looks good for newbies instead of doing patchwork:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Curscale_Armor_Quest
(Oh i see you got that one already, well there it is for posterity ha)
This looks like its hard to the point you could be buying gear but, if you have a shaman:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Scaled_Mystic_Armor_Quests
Monk armor doesn't look to hard to make:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Sparring_Armor
Prob gotta do this for the sake of doing it:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Monk_Shackle_Quests
idk, yeah,
quests! You also might be able to find some good plat making camps using these quests, sometimes quest mobs drop sellable stuff that you can get a few starter plat from, but idk much about cabalis.
Good FoB drops for new players.
These look tough, but maybe you can get them in your teens in FoB.
https://wiki.project1999.com/Blockcutter_Gloves
https://wiki.project1999.com/Polished_Stone_Anklet
https://wiki.project1999.com/Scaled_Prowler_Belt
https://wiki.project1999.com/Scaled_Prowler_Cloak
https://wiki.project1999.com/Burynaibane_Charm
late teens armor upgrade?
https://wiki.project1999.com/Reinforced_Rhino_Armor
Level 10-15 mob items:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Carrion_Beetle_Leggings
https://wiki.project1999.com/Maraude..._Ring_%27MM%27
https://wiki.project1999.com/Marauder_Snout_Ring
Obvs some trinkets from Kurns would be good to get for your gang..
https://wiki.project1999.com/Kurn%27s_Tower
looks like youll want to figure out of you can get this guy to spawn while your there:
https://wiki.project1999.com/An_undead_jester
That'll setup your monk haha