<br/>yay, I'm back (obviously!) missed ya & this<br/><br/>It's a good question and such a natural one that it's negligence that it's not stated clearly one way or the other in the spell. I think it's listening only (as in, not reading), b/c while 'understanding' would include both, it refers to other creatures (i.e. you understand the creature, not the language itself) (and yes, I realize that almost all written text was originally created by some creature).  And circumstantially, the fact that Comprehend Languages specifically says it does confer the reading suggests that Tongues, b/c it doesn't say so, doesn't.<br/><br/>Amusingly, if a person knew how to pronounce a certain written language aloud, then they could do so and someone else could perhaps understand *them*. In RL there are of course lots of languages that share approximate alphabets and pronouncing rules (Spanish/French/Italian etc.) but the DnD languages (I think) all have their own alphabets (there's no mechanic for being able to pronounce the characters if a language you don't know) so it's moot.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Aria found herself aroused from the moment Kass went to her knees, and from there the performance grew only the more erotic. She'd seen the bardess bring lips and tongue to bear upon a female, the Sharessan acolyte Acenith, but now upon a - well, not a man of flesh, but ash-white marble in one of detail as exacting as any medusa-petrified hero...she admired the art with which tongue licked and lips slid, then that warm mouth taking stone length in, sheathing it deeply, then further still. Aria groaned more than few times as the bardess's head bobbed, tail twitching even as she glanced between the doors of the chamber.<br/><br/>She would not be able to witness the fruits of Kass's art: the bardess would feel no physical liquid gush into her mouth, yet a sudden phantom texture and taste - like the sort of sudden, vivid memory brought upon by a smell or memento. Yet it was not quite the taste of mortal human ejaculate one might remember, but a heavenly saffron and sugary taste, like spiced bee-honey had been spurted into her mouth. Kass would feel her muscles and nerves almost seem to lift and lighten, like when one falls to bed weary and it seems but a single eye-blink later one has awoken quite refreshed.<br/><br/>This was followed by a sound perceptible to herself and Aria as well: the tiefling would've sworn, although the statue never moved, that she heard a sigh from that masculine marble face - and that it was smiling just a bit more than before.