Assassin Guild Signs

While there is no ruling assassins guild master nor anything quite as formal as most imagine there is such a guild. Usually with one in each major city scattered across the continents. These places are usually highly trapped or fortified in ways that a tactician will easily spot but most people will overlook. For example the guild in Treaty City hangs oil lamps around their common room for light and for easy clean up has a floor covered in saw dust. If ever there is a raid on the guild the entire front room turns into a fire trap. These guild halls act more like a information brokerage that guarantees anonymity to those who come by. Illegal bounties and contracts are delivered to the guild through differing means depending on who is running the hall, these are then posted inside in a back room where only those who speak the correct lingo and passphrases is allowed. The halls are also places that have a lot of foot traffic. This is to cover the comings and goings of those who need the halls services, provides an income that isn't illegal (allowing taxes to be paid and money to be moved around), and makes sure that coming and going from the guild isn't suspicious in and of itself. The way those from out of town find out where to go is simple. There is a set of symbols that are employed to give those new to the city direction. While these symbols appear in some cultures as graffiti and others as decorations the understanding of symbolism is the key to finding any guild hall. The symbols are placed in an array of outward spirals from the guild itself with the last of the symbols being at least fifty yards away from the guild itself. The outermost symbol is one that represents poison or a slow death by sickness. This could be anything from a drawing of poisonous berries to a health charm against sickness being placed decoratively on a sign or in the front window of a shop. Many times the person who owns a shop or building that the symbol is being displayed on has no idea what it's really there for. It could be a 'good luck' decoration given to them by another businessmen or a bit of 'child's charcoal stick graffiti' drawn crudely on a wall. In any case the symbol will be a representation of slow or wasting death. and will signal those who know to turn in the direction of the sign at the next junction if it isn't placed at the turning point itself.
The second sign is placed within two city blocks of the first and will be a sign of direct and immediate violence. Weapons, silhouettes of monsters, blood stains that just don't seem to wash away, plaques commemorating battles or places where a hero fell... all of these can be used to act as the second marker. As with the first it points out the location where the seeker should turn or if it's in the middle of the block and there is no alleyway then the next turn is the one to be taken.
The third sign is one of life. Healing, alchemists shops with healing potions in the window, temples, places that sell cribs and other baby goods, pictures of a rising sun. Anything that represents life moving on. As with the other symbols it signifies where to turn next.
The fourth symbol is usually the last, or if the trail is longer for some reason the cycle restarts with the first symbol all over again. The fourth symbol is one of learning or scholarship. No one ever goes far in the assassination business without thinking things through. Books, graffiti phrases that are more thought provoking than they may seem on the surface, statues of scholars or philosophers, and even schools or signs advertising lessons. After the fourth symbol there will be a business that has a name that is a symbol for death itself. That will be the business that shelters the guild. Using Treaty City again, the guild there is also the Sunset tavern.
While some of these things may appear randomly on any given day since people move things around and there is real graffiti out there that could cover these symbols, the guild lays out a spiral. That way if you are on the path to the guild and get misdirected then you will eventually while circling find another of the correct symbols and be able to follow it again.