my friend broke a spoke on a crappy set of shimano wheels (24 spoke rear) after less than 500k on them, we were about 40k away from being back and neither of us had a spoke tool, fortunately another cyclist (he was probably 60-70 and wearing a molteni cap, which is awesome) rolled up to help us and he had one, i was able to remove the spoke and true the wheel enough that it was ride-able (with the brake caliper all the way open)

after that i got a new multi-tool with spoke keys on it, would have been a looong walk for him