Hoster Wythcliff was a third year student at the Ban Ard Sorcerer's School. Whilst studying there, he attended a lecture by occassional guest orator at the academy, the sorcerer Dorregaray. The lecture concerned the events Dorregaray witnessed in the Kestrel Mountains some years ago, during which Yennefer displayed a previously unprecedented ability to cast a spell using only her leg.
During one night of Belleteyn celebrations, he and two of his fellow students, namely Vidar Holgersson and Cammle Torrel the Younger, were inspired by Dorregaray's story and contested one another to attempt to replicate the effect. The combination of said contest with some alcohol they had managed to smuggle into the school's dormitory quickly escalated into increasingly obscene revelry.
The trio ending up causing a scandal at the Three Spruces inn in the city of Ban Ard during their attempts to recreate Yennefer's feat, in a state of undress and without using their hands. When they were subsequently arrested by the Ban Ard city guard, the students claimed they did it all "in the name of progress and the further development of magic". Their actions led to a multitude of complaints against the academy, and even the involvement of the city's burgomeister, who also happened to be the uncle of Hoster.[1]