Any good deception comes from good preparation. Naturally, a theatric performance would need good props.
So that was what we started with: prop making.
The most important thing in this whole fakery was the item at the center of the rumor: yep, the Sacred Spear. We had to ensure the church's agents saw the 'sentient spear' in question.
Naturally, we couldn't use the real one, so we had to make a substitute. One that would be carved with a lot of formations so a magician could control it from afar, and most importantly, looked like the old, unawakened Sacred Spear.
Yeah, not Avleitya after he synchronized with my druid lineage, but the spear Valmeier used in the war.