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| like this, but with faces |
Protruding face: empty eye sockets, missing nose, open mouth. Kinda like one of those comedy/tragedy masks. When discovered, there's a 1 in 6 chance that some shriveled, decaying eyes, noses, and/or tongues can be found nearby, or in the respective receptacles on the protruding face.
Indented face: as the protruding face, but inverted on the opposite side of the structure. Large enough for an adult to put their head into; if one does so, it will conform to the shape of their face, as will the other face. The faces will copy all mouth, nose, and eye movements of the person with their head in it. If they speak, the protruding face speaks as well, translating whatever they say into the aforementioned ancient language.
How it works: A person with their head inserted can operate the Babelisk. If an eye is placed in one of the eye sockets on the protruding side, the operator sees from the perspective of the eye's former owner. If a nose is placed on the protruding face, it will attach, and the operator smells what the nose's former owner would smell if they still had a nose. If a tongue is placed in the protruding face's empty mouth, the operator's speech translates into all languages known by whoever used to own that tongue, simultaneously.
Some history: long ago, Babelisks were installed in many town squares, markets, and other prominent places of multicultural gathering. Their usefulness in trade and diplomacy alone created a great demand (and market) for polyglot tongues. Scholars made fortunes by learning numerous languages and paying healers to regenerate their tongues so that they could be sold repeatedly. Similar mini-economies formed around sought-after eyes and noses. Because the name sounds so similar to "Basilisk," rumors spread that prolonged use could turn one to stone, which is ironic because without the Babelisks, most folk would not have understood that play on words.
Nowadays: their magic has faded, and the secret of their enchantment is lost to history. Inert or smashed up Babelisks can be found in the ruins of once-prosperous keeps and agoras. The price a working one could fetch from a merchant or king would be enough for an entire band of adventurers to comfortably retire, though lugging one up from the depths of a dungeon would be nearly as hard as finding it in the first place. An inert yet intact Babelisk could probably be restored to functionality by making a deal with a devil, though that would probably involve something messed up like hunting down a Couatl and feeding its still-beating heart to the protruding face.
