If you dual at 9th level your Thaco is 2 points better and you get an extra proficiency giving you 7 in all (plus your 2 free ones in 2 weapon style)
That means you can stick two in flail-flail of the ages
one in two weapon sytle
two in war hammer-crom fayer
two in mace (mace of disruption for those pesky vamp and you can also get it upgraded so you don't get level drained when you are hit.....)
By going at 9th you get your ranger abilities back in plenty of time for chapter three.
If you want to tank don't do the whole stalker extravaganza, you're better off in full plate mail. But you don't have to have a huge negative AC to be an effective fighter just get your character to hit the enemies after the tanks/summoned creatures go in they'll concentrate on the tanks/fodder leaving you to do some damage and be ignored for a bit.